Harry Potter and the Stargate
by Sinyk
Summary: What if Remus was not... quite... as fast as he needed to be to catch Harry before he tried to get to Sirius in front of the Veil of Death. And what if the Veil was not what the magicals believed it to be? Oops! AU HP/LL Bash!AD/RW/GW (as my usual).
1. Through the Wormhole

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **A/N:** Yup. I _know_ I haven't finished Daft Morons yet. I _know_ you're all waiting for my to get to it and get it done. _My_ problem is my muse pointed this story at me, something I started a while ago and had set aside to finish _after_ Daft Morons, and wouldn't stop nagging me about it. So, I decided to write some more of what I already had, just to see if I could appease the muse and get back to Daft; but... no... the muse wanted _this_ one written. And, before I knew it, it was completed.

And now, hopefully, it's going to leave me alone so I can get back to Daft and 'git-er-done'! After all, there is really only one enemy left to deal with (can _you_ figure out who that is? The clues are all there, already) and, with that, the story can be wrapped.

" _Pllleeeeeaase!_ "

(Yes, the author is not too big for his britches he won't beg his muse.)

Besides, the 1st of September... ring any bells (or toot any train whistles)?

Sinyk.

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 **Chapter One - Through the Wormhole**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

 _ **"**_ **Dubbledore!** _ **" said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.**_

 _ **"What?"**_

 _ **"**_ **DUBBLEDORE!** _ **"**_

 _ **Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body - they were saved.**_

 _ **Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Harry, who had no more thought of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realised he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line**_ **―**

 _ **Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light. He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.**_

From off the dais and to the side of the circle thing, Harry knew his godfather, Sirius Black, was not thinking properly. He was taunting his opponent, Bellatrix LeStrange. And standing right in front of that weird circle thing as he did so.

Harry knew, in his soul, that his godfather clearly did not know what sort of danger that circle represented. He _knew_ it was dangerous. He raced up the two steps, just as his pseudo-uncle, Remus Lupin, reached out to grab him before he could move. The grab missed.

He sprinted the short distance and hit his godfather in his side, just as LeStrange cast a pale bolt of magical energy towards the older man. As per the laws of physics, the energy of Harry's momentum cannoned into the older man as he blocked that first bolt, propelling him away from in front of the arch while leaving Harry standing where his godfather stood; all the momentum in _him_ , now cancelled.

Harry turned, raised his wand and cast, " _Pro-teh―!_ " It was as far as he got before the mad witch's second spell reached him.

 _ **The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.**_

His _ **eyes widened in shock**_ as he was flung backwards, through that circle; hit with a banishing charm of all things.

 _ **It seemed to take**_ Harry _ **an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he**_ soared _ **backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.  
**_

Looking back, Sirius _ **saw the look of surprise on his god**_ son _ **'s face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.**_

Sirius _ **heard Bellatrix LeStrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing**_ **―** Harry _ **had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second...**_

 _ **But**_ Harry _ **did not reappear.**_ Instead, they heard a long mournful scream of both anguish and pain come from behind the veil that faded away.

 _ **"**_ _HARRY_ _ **!"**_ Sirius _ **yelled, "**_ _HARRY_ _ **!"**_

 _ **But as he**_ stood _ **and**_ was about to _**sprint**_ back _ **toward the dais,**_ the young auror and his cousin, Nymphadora Tonks, _ **grabbed**_ him _ **around the chest, holding him back.**_

 _ **"There's nothing you can do,**_ Sirius, _ **"**_ she firmly stated.

 _ **"Get him,**_ **save** _ **him, he's only just gone through!"**_

 _ **"It's too late,**_ Sirius. _ **"**_

 _ **"We can still reach him**_ ― _ **"**_

Sirius _ **struggled hard and viciously.**_ However, he'd just managed to break the young witch's grip when he was then grabbed by the tall, dark-skinned Senior Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt. There would be no breaking that man's grip.

 _ **"There's nothing you can do,**_ Sirius _ **...**_ **nothing** ," the man firmly, but empatheticly, stated. " _ **He's gone."**_

" _Nnnooooo!..._ " Sirius cried out.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry's last thought as he passed through the Veil was to try and get to his godfather. _'SIRIUS!'_ he screamed in his mind as all he saw was the circle thing shooting away from him as he very rapidly disappeared down a spiralling tunnel lined with fast moving, what looked like, silver clouds and streaks.

Trying to struggle to get back to his godfather, it was only a moment before he felt a strange wrench and agony from his scar. It felt as if something was ripped from his forehead.

The last thing he heard as the pain and agony of that caused him to fall unconscious, was a wailing mournful cry of " _Nooooo...!_ "

For only a moment, as he felt blood flow from his again-opened wound on his forehead, he thought he saw a black, smoky mist leave his forehead and disappear. It even had a face - Voldemort's.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In the Veil Room, Sirius was in shock. _**There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To**_ Sirius _**it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing mattered except that**_ his godson was gone.

Shacklebolt began to _**drag**_ Sirius _**away from the dais**_ with the man _**still staring at the archway.**_

 _ **Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry... to help him.**_ If Harry was gone, as he knew he was, then it was all for nought.

Turning to see what else was going on, Sirius saw that _**Dumbledore had most of the remaining Death Eaters grouped in the middle of the room, seemingly immobilised by invisible ropes. Mad-Eye Moody had crawled across the room to where Tonks**_ now _**lay and was attempting to revive her.**_ Sirius hadn't even known she'd been hit after he'd broken free of her grip.

Across the other side of the dais, Lupin had carefully approached the Longbottom boy, Neville. _**"Here," Lupin quietly said. And, pointing his wand at Neville's legs, he said, "Finite."**_

 _ **The** spell, a Tarantulegra of all things, **was lifted. Neville's legs fell back onto the floor and remained still. Lupin's face was pale. "Let's ― let's find the others. Where are they all, Neville?"**_

 _ **Lupin**_ had _**turned away from the archway as he spoke. It sounded as though every word was causing him pain.**_

 _ **"Dey're all back dere," said Neville. "A brain addacked Ron, bud I dink he's all righd.**_ And _ **Herbione's unconscious, bud we could feel a bulse―"**_

 _ **There was a loud bang and a yell from behind the dais.**_ Sirius _ **saw**_ an order member _ **, yelling in pain, hit the ground. Bellatrix LeStrange turned tail and ran as Dumbledore whipped around. He aimed a spell at her**_ , _ **but she deflected it. She was halfway up the steps now**_ leading back out of the Department.

With a sudden bolt of fury flooding his system, Sirius didn't even realise he was moving.

 _ **"**_ Sirius _ **― no!" cried Lupin, but**_ Sirius didn't even slow down. He chased after the mad bitch.

 _ **"SHE KILLED**_ HARRY _ **!" bellowed**_ Sirius _ **. "SHE KILLED HIM ― I'LL KILL HER!"**_

 _ **And he was off, scrambling up the stone benches. People were shouting behind him**_ , _ **but he did not care. The hem of Bellatrix's robes whipped out of sight ahead and they were**_ in a room where large glass tanks, but one, had smashed andthings on the ground that looked like a cross between a brain and a squid were scattered about on the floor.

 _ **She aimed a curse over her shoulder. The tank rose into the air and tipped.**_ Sirius _**was deluged in the foul-smelling potion within. The brains slipped and slid over him and began spinning their long, coloured tentacles, but he shouted, "**_ Depulso! _ **" and they flew into the air away from him.**_ Nimbly, he dodged the rest of the potion on the floor and _**ran on toward the door. He leapt over**_ a young blonde-haired student witch _ **, who was groaning on the floor, past Ginny, who said, "**_ _Hey!_... What? _ **" past Ron, who giggled feebly, and Hermione, who was still unconscious. He wrenched open the door into the circular black hall and saw Bellatrix disappearing through a door on the other side of the room. Beyond her was the corridor leading back to the lifts.**_

Determinedly, he chased after her; _**but she had slammed the door behind her and the walls had begun to rotate again.**_ Just as when he and the other members of the Order desperately raced into the Department to rescue his godson and his friends, _ **he was surrounded by streaks of blue light from the whirling candelabra.**_

 _ **"Where's the exit?" he shouted desperately, as the wall rumbled to a halt again. "Where's the way out?"**_

 _ **The room seemed to have been waiting for him to ask. The door right behind him flew open, and the corridor toward the lifts stretched ahead of him, torch-lit and empty. He ran.**_

He knew this was a race of his trying to catch his mad bitch of a cousin before she reached the atrium and her needing to reach the atrium to escape; whether by portkey, apparation or the floos therein.

 _ **He could hear a lift clattering ahead of him. He sprinted up the passageway, swung around the corner and slammed his fist onto the button to call a second lift. It jangled and banged lower and lower; the grilles slid open and**_ Sirius _**dashed inside, now**_ jabbing _ **the button marked Atrium. The doors slid shut and he was rising.**_

Moments later, he _ **forced his way out of the lift before the grilles were fully open and looked around. Bellatrix was almost at the telephone lift at the other end of the hall, but she looked back as he sprinted toward her and aimed another spell at him. He dodged behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren; the spell zoomed past him and hit the wrought gold gates at the other end of the Atrium**_ and _ **they rang like bells.**_

In order to catch his breath, he paused for a few moments behind the fountain.

 _ **"Come out, come out,**_ dear cousin _ **!" she called**_. Her voice _**echoed off the polished wooden floors. "What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge**_ wee baby Potter! _ **"**_

 _ **"I am!"**_ he called, stepping back out.

 _ **"Aaaaaah... did you love him,**_ dear cousin? _ **"**_

 _ **Hatred rose in**_ Sirius _**such as he had never known before.**_ Without any incantation he simply jabbed his wand forward twice in quick succession. The first spell cast was a shield breaker; the second was a bone shatterer.

 _ **Bellatrix screamed. The**_ shield breaker had done its job against the shield she'd immediately erected before her, ripping it away and allowing the next to get through her defences and hit her. The follow-up bone breaker slammed into her and _**knocked her off her feet.**_ But _ **she did not shriek with pain**_. Immediately, she jumped to _**her feet again, breathless, no longer laughing**_ and silently cast a dark curse back _ **.**_ Sirius simply side-stepped it, which allowed it to _ **hit the head of the handsome wizard**_ of the fountain. The head _ **was blown off and landed twenty feet away, gouging long scratches into the wooden floor.**_

Sirius _ **had been edging around the fountain on the other side. She screamed, "Crucio!" and he was forced to**_ duck behind the fountain _ **as the centaur's arm, holding its bow, spun off and landed with a crash on the floor a short distance from the golden wizard's head.**_

 _ **"**_ You _**cannot win against me!" she cried. He could hear her moving to the right, trying to get a clear shot of him. He backed around the statue away from her, crouching behind the centaur's legs, his head level with the house-elf's. "I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant,**_ " she called. " _ **I learned the Dark Arts from him and I know spells of such power that you can never hope to compete―"**_

Sirius _ **had edged right around to where the goblin stood beaming up at the now headless wizard and taken aim at her back as she peered around the fountain for him**_ \- and cast yet another bone breaker _ **.**_

 _ **She reacted so fast he barely had time to duck. "Protego!"**_

 _ **The jet of red light, his own spell, bounced back at him.**_ He was forced to duck _ **and one of the goblin's ears went flying across the room.**_

 _ **"**_ Sirius _ **, I am going to give you one chance!" shouted Bellatrix.**_

Sirius _**laughed again because he knew it would incense her**_. Stepping out _**from behind the one-eared goblin**_ he immediately had to duck back _ **as she sent another jet of green light flying at him.**_

 _ **"**_ Missed! _ **" he shouted. "**_ And there's nothing to summon! _ **"**_

 _ **"No!" she screamed. "MASTER, I TRIED, I TRIED - DO NOT PUNISH ME―"**_

"Don't waste your breath!" he yelled back. _**"He can't hear you from here!"**_

 _ **"Can't I,**_ Lord Black _ **?"** called **a high, cold voice.**_

Sirius quickly spun to the voice.

 _ **Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible snakelike face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupilled eyes staring ... Lord Voldemort had appeared in the middle of the hall, his wand pointing at**_ Sirius.

 _ **"So you**_ lot _**smashed** **my prophecy?" said Voldemort softly, staring at**_ Sirius _**with those pitiless red eyes. "No, Bella, he is not lying. I see the truth looking at me from within his worthless mind. Months of preparation, months of effort ... and my Death Eaters have let Harry Potter thwart me again..."**_

 _ **"Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the**_ Animagus Black _ **!" sobbed Bellatrix, flinging herself down at Voldemort's feet as he paced slowly nearer. "Master, you should know―"**_

 _ **"Be quiet, Bella," said Voldemort dangerously. "I shall deal with you in a moment. Do you think I have entered the Ministry of Magic to hear your snivelling apologies?"**_

 _ **"But Master**_... _ **he is here! He is below―"**_

 _ **Voldemort paid no attention.**_

 _ **"I have nothing more to say to you,**_ Lord Black _ **," he said quietly. "**_ You could have joined me. Your blood is pure and would have been easily welcomed into my ranks. _ **AVADA―!"**_

That was the trigger; at least, the first two syllables.

While on the run for the past three years, Sirius Black had not been idle for that whole time. Due to the ravages of being a prisoner for eleven plus years in the wizarding prison, Azkaban, for the first year he was pretty much an idiot. It took the entire first year, plus more, just to get his head back on straight.

After the first year he headed for the Island of Black in the tropics. However, it wasn't until then he realised he had mental problems. That year on the island and under secret specialist care by healers, once he realised just how mentally mauled he truly was and organised them, beat back most of those physical and mental ravages of which he'd been suffering.

On returning to wizarding Britain approximately twelve months ago, he hadn't been letting the 'potion simmer away'.

Dumbledore had approached him on his immediate return and asked him to provide a property where the newly-reformed Order of the Phoenix could call 'Headquarters' and meet. Sirius had offered his childhood home and forced Dumbledore to promise his godson, Harry, would get to spend the summer with him. It was the only reason Sirius acceded to Dumbledore's firm request to open his home to them.

However, when Harry returned to stay with the Dursleys directly from the Hogwarts Express, Sirius confronted the old man and demanded to know where the boy was. Dumbledore had told him that Harry had returned to the Dursleys 'to ensure the blood wards were re-powered before he would come to Grimmauld Place'. Dumbledore had made it seem that Harry had volunteered to return to the Dursleys to accomplish that.

Even then, Harry was only brought to Grimmauld Place because the boy had been attacked by Dementors on the second of August. And it wasn't until Harry arrived at Grimmauld that Sirius discovered it wasn't Harry's choice he be at Privet Drive, either. He'd been forced back there by Dumbledore.

Oh, Sirius had let the old man verbally 'have it' for that.

However, Dumbledore just stood there with that overly calm and pleasant façade and let Sirius vent. Once Sirius had wound up, or during pauses of ranting, Dumbledore calmly returned, "Harry needs to live at Privet Drive in order to recharge the blood wards. I was going to have him collected as soon as the blood wards had fully recharged. That would have occurred within a day or two at most of the dementors' attack."

That did not appease Sirius in the slightest. He knew damned well the old man had deliberately misled him. However, there was nothing much he could do about it. He needed Dumbledore to finally get off his wrinkly old bum and engineer things to finally get him his ignored trial. Until he had his trial he still had a 'kill on sight' order on him; which meant he had no chance of ever gaining lawful custody of his godson.

It did not take him long to come to the conclusion Dumbledore didn't want him, Sirius, to gain such custody. And, right from that point, Sirius only told the old man just enough to have the old man not suspect anything.

Instead, Sirius had determined it would be up to him to set right what was wrong. He now 'knew' Voldemort was determined to kill Harry; and Sirius, as Harry's godfather, saw it as his duty to stand between Voldemort and his godson. That meant he had to both recover his auror reflexes and skills from the previous war, as well as learn a great deal more. He had to train, hard. And that meant he had to get _sneaky_... like a real Black.

While the Order of Phoenix had access to the main part of the house, Sirius had kept secret the house magical combat duelling and training room in the sub-basement. He'd adjusted the house wards to have that part of the house undetectable, even to Mad-Eye Moody's magical false eye.

Once he was ready and whenever he could get time alone, he went down to that room and trained.

One of the things he trained himself in was deliberately creating 'knee-jerk' responses within himself. And one of those 'knee-jerk', Pavlov's Dog, responses was reacting in a certain way to the verbalised two consecutive syllables of "Av" and "Ah", the first two syllables of the killing curse.

When Voldemort began to cast the Killing Curse towards Sirius, Sirius's 'knee jerk' ingrained trained reaction cut in.

His wand whipped up and launched a quick transfiguration point cast at a piece of marble detritus from the fountain only a few feet in front of him into a thick marble wall that rose to his chest and was four feet wide.

 _ **"KEDAVRA!"**_ finished Voldemort, whipping his wand down and casting the brilliant green of the Killing Curse towards him.

However, as the wall sprung up before him, _ **the headless golden statue of the wizard in the fountain had sprung alive, leaping from its plinth, and landed on the floor with a crash between**_ _his marble wall_ _ **and Voldemort. The**_ Killing Curse _ **merely glanced off its chest as the statue flung out its arms, protecting**_ Sirius _ **.**_

 _ **"What―?" said Voldemort, staring around.**_

However, Sirius was already in his lethal combat mindset from the trigger phrase and was already moving to engage as Voldemort was turning to where the statue had come from.

As Voldemort _ **breathed, "Dumbledore!"**_ Sirius had also spotted the old man and banished his own section of the magical fountain at him.

 _ **Dumbledore was standing in front of the**_ , now spell damaged, _**golden**_ security _**gates**_ leading towards the lifts with his attention focused on Voldemort. He did not see the huge hunk of fountain now rocketing towards him from the side.

 _ **Voldemort raised his wand and sent another jet of green light at Dumbledore, who**_ began to turn into an apparation twist when the large piece of masonry hit him in the side, knocking him away.

The impact was so hard it sent Dumbledore flying to the side and out of the line of sight.

"STAY OUT OF IT, DUMBLEDORE!" roared Sirius, while his attention turned back to Voldemort. "HE'S _MINE_!"

As Voldemort turned a smirk back on Sirius he was shocked to see Sirius had already launched a curse at him. He had to rapidly raise his wand in an attempt to spell-swat it away. He missed.

The curse was a cutter and it nailed him in his left shoulder.

In shock at being hit, he was already back on the defensive as yet another curse... and another... were already on their way.

Now having to focus on the battle before him, Voldemort had to move quickly to shield himself.

" _You cannot hope to defeat me, Black!_ " he called back, behind his shield.

Sirius rapidly cast a strong shield breaker and followed it up with another cutter before he paused and called back, "You keep thinking that Riddle, you _half blood bastard!_ "

Yet more curses and charms flew between the two before Riddle call-demanded, " _Do_ not _call me by that filthy... muggle... NAME!_ "

More curses and protection charms, with Sirius moving about as if he was almost dancing. His moves, though appearing slow due to how smooth and graceful they looked, were actually quite quick. He was needing to shield and spell-swat dark curses and charms aside a lot less than Voldemort; who saw dodging as a sign of magical weakness.

Suddenly Sirius saw, out of the corner of his eye, the now one-armed centaur detach itself from the fountain and gallop towards him.

'Dumbledore,' he thought. A hesitation between casting curses at Riddle and he cast a Blasting Hex at the centaur, blowing it to smithers.

" _Stay_ out _of it, Dumbledore!_ " he roared. " _I_ told _you, Riddle is mine!_ "

However, Dumbledore proceeded to ignore Sirius and was walking forward; his eyes again focused on Riddle.

 _ **"It was foolish to come here tonight, Tom," said Dumbledore calmly. "The Aurors are on their way―"**_

 _ **"By which time I shall be gone and you, dead!" spat Voldemort. He sent another Killing Curse at Dumbledore, but missed; instead, hitting the security guards desk**_ behind the old man _ **, which burst into flame.**_

 _ **Dumbledore flicked his own wand and Voldemort was forced to**_ , once again, _ **conjure a shining silver shield out of thin air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible damage to the shield, though a deep, gong-like note reverberated from it. An oddly chilling sound.**_

 _ **"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such brutality, are―"**_

He had to shut up and again start defending himself from Black's attacks. Sirius had only hesitated for a few moments in annoyance that Dumbledore had, once again, interfered _ **.**_

 _ **"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit―"**_

 _ **"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort**_ , incantlessly defending himself from Sirius's attacks. " _Merlin,_ damn it _, Black!_ " he roared. " _I'm_ trying _to hold a civil conversation with_ Dumbledore!"

" _I do not_ care _, you snake-faced_ freak _!_ " Sirius snarled back. " _Just_ ignore _the old man. He's a worthless sack of shit, anyway!_ "

Dumbledore, once more, began casting at Riddle/Voldemort - obviously not appreciating the idea he should simply be ignored - while Sirius returned to his attack. Seeing magic cast at him from two different directions at pretty much the same time, _**Voldemort vanished.**_

 _ **There was a burst of flame in mid-air above Dumbledore just as Voldemort reappeared, standing on the plinth in the middle of the pool where so recently the five statues had stood.**_

One _ **more jet of green light had flown at Dumbledore from Voldemort's wand, just as Fawkes swooped down in front of Dumbledore, opened his beak wide and swallowed the light whole. He burst into flame and fell to the floor, small, wrinkled and flightless.**_

 _ **At the same moment, Dumbledore brandished his wand in one, long, fluid movement; the water in the pool rose up and covered Voldemort like a cocoon of molten glass.**_

 _ **For a few seconds Voldemort was visible only as a dark, rippling, faceless figure, shimmering and indistinct upon the plinth, clearly struggling to throw off the suffocating mass. Then he was gone and the water fell with a crash back into its pool, slopping wildly over the sides, drenching the polished floor.**_

 _ **"MASTER!" screamed Bellatrix.**_

With the opportunity presented to him, Sirius spun towards LeStrange and cast a dark purple curse at her. Not expecting it she soundlessly collapsed to the ground either unconscious or dead.

Thinking _ **it**_ might be _ **over,**_ that _ **Voldemort had decided to flee,**_ Sirius _ **made to**_ step _ **out from behind his**_ significantly damaged marble wall _ **, but Dumbledore bellowed, "Stay where you are,**_ Sirius! _ **"**_

 _ **For the first time, Dumbledore sounded frightened**_ ; though Sirius _ **could not see why. The hall was quite empty but for themselves, the '**_ unconscious' _ **Bellatrix still trapped under her statue and the tiny baby Fawkes croaking feebly on the floor.**_

Suddenly Voldemort reappeared standing next to Bellatrix and looking down at her.

Sirius immediately began casting again.

Voldemort looked up and, with a look of fury at Sirius, returned to his own attack. Both combatants, ignored Dumbledore.

" _You've_ killed _her!_ " Voldemort practically screamed at Sirius. " _You've_ killed _my Bella!_ "

" _You'll be_ joining _her in a few moments!_ " Sirius snarled back. " _Just accept it! You're a dead man who doesn't know when to stay dead!_ " And he began slinging curses, hexes and everything he had at the man.

Voldemort returned like for like, but had resorted to the darkest of curses in his anger.

Sirius dodged them all and yelled, "Give up you half-blood, muggle-raised, slit-eyed, noseless freak and _just accept it_!"

Riddle increased his attack, but so did Sirius.

" _Lord_ , my arse!" yelled Sirius between casts. " _Voldemort_ , my arse! French for 'Flight from Death' is accurate enough! _Coward!_ "

Having caught something from the side of his eye, Riddle gave a small start of shock.

Suddenly, he cast up a massive crystalline shield and, from behind it, snarled, " _I'll be back, Black! I shall personally kill you for this affront!_ " Then he bent down, reached to LeStrange with his off-hand, latched onto her robes and side-along apparated with her out and away.

Sirius looked around to see if the snake-faced mongrel was going to put in another appearance. However, instead of spotting him again, saw that the other end of the _ **Atrium was full of people. The**_ **floor** , covered in water from the fountain in many places, _ **was reflecting emerald-green flames that had burst into life in all the fireplaces along one wall**_ ; _ **and a stream of witches and wizards was emerging from them. As Dumbledore**_ walked forward from the other side of the smashed fountain, Sirius _ **saw the tiny gold statues of the house-elf and the goblin leading a stunned-looking Cornelius Fudge forward.**_

 _ **"He was there!" shouted a scarlet-robed man with a ponytail, who was pointing at a pile of golden rubble on the other side of the hall, where Bellatrix had lain trapped moments before. "I saw him, Mr. Fudge, I swear, it was You-Know-Who, he grabbed a woman and disapparated!**_... and... and... _That's_ Sirius Black! Sirius Black was fighting him... and... and― _ **"**_

 _ **"I know, Williamson, I know. I saw him too!" gibbered Fudge, who was wearing pyjamas under his pinstriped cloak and was gasping as though he had just run miles. "Merlin's beard! ― here!**_... _ **Here**_ , _ **in the Ministry of Magic! Great heavens above**_... _ **it doesn't seem possible**_... _ **my word**_... _ **how can this be?**_

After giving yet another start, he suddenly barked, "Aurors! Go get a dementor. Sirius Black is to be kissed, _immediately_!"

" _No... he bloody well... is not!_ " snapped a solid looking woman, who wore short greying reddish-blonde hair and had a monocle dangling from a chain at her breast. As Fudge stood there, gaping, she walked to Sirius and firmly stated, "Mister Black; if you hand over your wand I give you my word as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement _and_ as Regent of the Noble and Ancient House of Bones that no harm will befall you while in my custody and until the conclusion of your trial."

"N-now... _see here_ , Amelia!" Fudge spluttered. "Black is the subject of an official Ministerial order that if he is captured he is to be―"

" _Shut your fool mouth_ , Cornelius," she snarled back. "I am taking him into custody and questioning him... as to _how_ it is we all just witnessed him duelling Voldemort in what was clearly a lethal duel! If he is the supposed right-hand man of the Dark Lord, that should not have been possible... _and you know it!_ "

As Bones turned back to Sirius, he was already holding his wand out to her, wand grip first. She immediately accepted it and attached magic-inhibiting manacles to his wrists. Sirius didn't even put up a fuss.

 _ **"If you proceed downstairs into the Department of Mysteries, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, walking**_ further _**forward so that the newcomers realised he was there**_. The man truly did not like to be ignored.

For _ **the first time**_ _ **a few of them raised their wands,**_ while _ **others simply looked amazed. "You will find several escaped Death Eaters contained in the Death Chamber, bound by**_ ropes and _**an Anti-Disapparation Jinx, awaiting your decision as to what to do with them."**_

 _ **"Dumbledore!" gasped Fudge, apparently beside himself with amazement. "You**_... _ **here**_... _ **I**_... _ **I―"**_

" _I'll_ be taking custody of them, Dumbledore," snapped Bones after taking Sirius's wand and affixing the manacles. "I am... after all... the Director of the DMLE."

She then turned behind her and sought out a couple of the more... calmer... aurors. "Preedy, Proudfoot, Hammer and Munson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and take into custody the Death Eaters, whether they claim to be such or not, and take them back to the holding cells."

As the four immediately ran off, Fudge _ **looked wildly around at the aurors he had brought with him, and it could not have been clearer that he was in half a mind**_ when he cried _ **, "Seize**_ them _ **!**_ _Both Dumbledore and Black first!_ _ **"**_

 _ **"Cornelius, I am ready to fight your men ― and win again!" said Dumbledore in a thunderous voice.**_

"MY men... _and_ women," Bones cut in.

 _ **"But a few minutes ago you saw proof, with your own eyes, that I have been telling you the truth for a year**_ ," Dumbledore continued, ignoring Bones. _ **"** **Lord Voldemort has returned. You have been chasing the wrong men for twelve months and it is time you listened to sense!"**_

"Fudge; _don't_!" barked Bones. "Any auror that even so much as _thinks_ to obey your orders will be fired on the spot!"

 _ **"I don't**_... _ **well―" blustered Fudge,**_ also ignoring Bones and **looking** _ **around as though hoping somebody**_ else _**was** **going to tell him what to do. When nobody did, he said, "Very well ― Dawlish! Williamson! Go down to the Department of Mysteries and see ... Dumbledore, you ― you will need to tell me exactly ― the Fountain of Magical Brethren ― what happened?" he added in a kind of whimper, staring around at the floor, where the remains of the statues of the witch, wizard, and centaur now lay scattered.**_

As the two aurors began to hurry towards the lifts they'd only gone five feet before Bones barked, " _Dawlish and Williamson!_ "

When both aurors suddenly stopped and turned to her, she snapped, "You're fired! I just got through telling you that anyone who obeyed the Minister's orders would be fired... you just did that! Go directly to the DMLE and surrender your badges and robes!"

"Now... Amelia!―" spluttered Fudge.

" _Not a word_ , Cornelius," she growled at him. "One further word out of your mouth to try and overrule my authority and _you'll_ be in one of those holding cells, yourself!"

 _ **"We can discuss that after I have sent**_ my students, downstairs, _ **back to Hogwarts," said Dumbledore.**_

"Oh, we _will_ be discussing matters, Dumbledore," said Bones. "However, I take it these students were involved in what happened here, tonight?"

 _ **"He-here?" said Fudge. "Why ― what's all this about?"**_

 _ **"I shall explain everything," repeated Dumbledore, "**_ Once my students are _ **back at school."**_

"They're not going anywhere until I and my people have spoken with them, Dumbledore," snapped Bones.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that, Amelia," said Dumbledore. "They are injured and require medical attention."

"Then they'll be going―" she began when Dumbledore chose to ignore her once again and turned to Fudge. _**"You will give the order to remove Dolores Umbridge from Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "You will tell your aurors to stop searching for my Care of Magical Creatures teacher so that he can return to work."**_ He then looked back at Bones and said, " _ **If you need more help from me you are, of course, more than welcome to contact me at Hogwarts. Letters addressed to the headmaster will find me."**_ And, suddenly, the old man was gone with a light crack of apparation.

"Damn it!" Bones snapped.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

An unknown time later, the young fifteen year old boy-wizard, Harry Potter, snapped awake.

As soon as his head cleared enough for him to remember what he was last doing, he sprang to his feet with his wand held tightly and quickly spun about, trying to figure out where he now was. And if there was any immediate threat.

As soon as he realised he couldn't see any danger, he began to better look about. All he saw was arid land as far as the eye could see. However, given the nature of the terrain, that wasn't that far. The almost immediate points he noticed, though, was that he was both outside and it was day. When he went through the veil and its circle/arch thing he was inside and it was late at night.

Remembering what he felt of his scar when he was in that weird tunnel thing, he raised his off-hand to it and gently felt it. His fingers came away with flecks of dried blood, but apparently the wound had already closed over again.

He was in a sort of canyon, was the best he could describe it. He was definitely outside; it was definitely day time, considering the sun was up and beating down; and the only 'man made' object he could see anywhere near him was a much larger version of that weird circle/arch thing he knew he must have fallen through back in the Department of Mysteries; and a sort of low height lectern thing standing about twenty feet in front of it and about five feet from him.

With no 'apparent' danger nearby, he walked over to the lectern thing and took a look at it.

It was covered in what looked like oddly shaped, but perfectly aligned, rune stones with a big red button thing in the middle. As for the rune stones - from what he remembered when scanning through his female friend, Hermione's, texts on ancient runes - he recognised none of them.

Figuring 'whatever-it-was' was dangerous - he knew from Hermione not to touch a runic array when he didn't know what it did or how to operate it - he decided to leave it alone for now and walked back past where he woke on the ground and took a better look at the circle thing.

Closer to it he could see it, too, had those peculiar runes circling it. They were evenly spaced and each seemed to occupy the same amount of space even with the weird non-geometric patterns of each rune. As he chased them down to the ground he could see how the circle wasn't broken once it reached dirt. It clearly performed a complete circle. What he couldn't figure out, though, was how it managed to stand, from what he could see and tell was, perfectly upright. With how much appeared to be in the ground it looked like a strong puff of wind could push it over; or, at least knock it off being perfectly straight.

Looking closer at what he first thought to be metal he couldn't tell what sort it was.

He reached up to pull his glasses off to give them a clean on his robes and his hands met... nothing. He wasn't _wearing_ his glasses.

Spinning about he looked back to where he had woken and saw them lying on the ground, partially covered in sand.

He hurried back to them and lifted them from the ground only to find that one of the lenses had broken, cracked right through the middle.

Frowning he put them on and realised everything had gone blurry. Confused, he took them off again and found he could see clearly again.

"What the... _Hell_?!" he muttered.

Not knowing what else to do with them he raised his wand, pointed at the glasses and incanted, "Occulus Reparo."

A quick flash of light and the glasses were repaired. It was the first true spell he'd ever heard properly incanted and it was done by his best female friend when she repaired his glasses for him back on the 1st September, 1991. It was his first time going to Hogwarts.

Again he put them on and realised everything was still very blurry. If anything, he realised it was about the same sort of blurriness he got when he _didn't_ wear his glasses.

He again took them off, looked about, realised he could actually see quite well, gave himself a mental shrug and dropped the glasses into his inside left breast pocket of his robes. It was a puzzle he realised he couldn't figure out on his own and, therefore, would be set aside for now.

He decided to return to that circle thing and try to figure out what it was, other than it had a runic circle etched into it around the... ring?

After getting frustrated he didn't understand any of it, he returned to the lectern thing.

Then, standing before it, he looked down at it and muttered, "I _should_ have taken Ancient-bloody-Runes like Hermione said I should."

With a deep sigh of both woe-is-me and here-goes-nothing he reached out and picked a rune stone at random. Carefully, almost gingerly, he allowed a finger to touch one before quickly yanking his hand back. When nothing happened, he reached out and more firmly pressed on the rune stone.

When that did nothing he then pressed more firmly.

Suddenly, the stone depressed under his fingers about an eighth of an inch and then lit up with a red glow underneath.

Jumping back he quickly watched and could see that one of the things he thought was a decoration on the ring also lit up. However, nothing else happened.

Warily making his way back, he then pressed another stone. The same thing happened.

He kept doing that a further four times, making six of the seven bulge things on the ring light up, with six of the runes also lighting up.

However, when the sixth lit, the big red button lit up with a deep orange colour.

Jumping back, he warily waited a few moments before then stepping back forward, reaching over and pressing the now lit red button.

He then felt a surge of magical power leave the base of the lectern and flash to the ring.

Before he had a chance to do anything there was a great whoosh of energy at the face of ring before it looked like a huge boiling water jet formed in front of it and surged towards him.

No idiot, he dived out of the way.

However, he saw that the water spout - if that is what it was - only came out about ten to fifteen feet before it retracted back to the ring and settled into what looked like the surface of back-lit rippling water. With his knowledge of magic the fact the surface of the water, if that is what it was, was standing vertical across the 'face' of the ring didn't come as that much of a shock.

Still not willing to touch it he returned to the lectern and looked down at the runes again. That's when he noticed another rune was softly glowing within the red button. 'Seven', he thought. 'That makes sense.'

He knew, without knowing why, that seven was a powerful magical number. It was a number even more magically powerful than three and thirteen, the next two most powerful.

While looking down at the runes and trying to reason things through, he felt the 'magic' powering the runic circle around the ring suddenly stop. Then the rippling surface winked out, the seven glowing nodules around the ring went out and the six lit runes and the red button on the lectern also went out.

'No more power?' he thought. 'Or timed?'

Yet another puzzle to figure out later.

Taking a better look at the runes circling the red button he also saw that the inner ring of the two held thirteen and the outside ring held twenty-one.

'Hunh!' he thought. 'Two rings and the button, making three layers, magical number. Thirteen runes in the inside ring, magical number. Twenty one runes... seven times three... in the second ring, both magical numbers.

'That makes, thirty-two different runes - thirty- _three_ , if you include the rune inside the red ball thing.

'The seventh rune will always be the same, I guess, because you have to press the red ball 'thingy' last. So, how many combinations would that make?'

Almost as soon as he began to try and calculate it he realised he had no hope of doing so. He knew Hermione could. She could probably do it in her head. But, to what purpose?

With a sigh, he realised he was wasting time. His first priority should be figuring out where he was so he could get back to the Ministry. If not there, then Hogwarts.

Taking his wand into his left hand he then held his right hand out flat with his palm up, then placed the wand across it. Firmly, he incanted, "Point me, Ministry of Magic."

The wand didn't move. It didn't even twitch.

Frowning, he tried, "Point me, Hogwarts."

Again, the wand didn't even twitch.

"Merlin, damn it," he muttered.

Lofting the wand a little into the air he re-caught it by the grip and began to look around. Once he saw what he thought was the highest point of land nearby, he headed for it.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Back at the Department of Mysteries within the wizarding Britain Ministry of Magic underground 'complex' beneath Whitehall, Harry's disappearance through what was known as the Veil of Death had not yet had a deleterious effect on the morale of the witches and wizards who had rushed to to the Ministry, that night, to 'rescue' Harry or the five friends who accompanied him. At least, not straight away.

While the other five teenage witches and wizards who'd accompanied Harry had either been injured sufficiently to cause them to lose consciousness, such as Hermione Granger, or were sufficiently injured the pain kept their minds sharpened, such as Neville Longbottom, at least two of them realised Harry had 'died' that night. Only one of them knew differently, Luna Lovegood. She knew through her kept-hidden abilities as a Seer that Harry would return. However, she could not openly share that information with wizarding Britain without outing herself as a Seer.

Within a few moments of Harry disappearing through what they thought of as the Veil of Death, the anger that went through the adults that had come to rescue him and the others drove them to powerful feats of emotional magic. Of the twelve Death Eaters who fought the six Hogwarts school students: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley - in order, four fifth years and two fourth years. The six students held their own.

Of those, Harry Potter was missing (presumed dead), Hermione Granger was hit with a slashing curse in an angle down her chest and was unconscious, Ron Weasley was entangled with what were known as Cognivors and was _as good as_ unconscious at the end of the battle, Neville Longbottom suffered a broken nose and some fingers on his wand hand, Luna Lovegood was suffering from severe broad bruising on her chest and Ginny Weasley had a sprained ankle.

The entire cadre, bar one, of the Death Eaters were also severely hurt or just stunned unconscious before being captured. They were Lucius Malfoy, Caracticus Nott, Vindicus Crabbe, Conrad Jugson, Walden MacNair, Quentin Avery, Harfang Mulciber, Augustus Rookwood, Rodolphus LeStrange, Rabastan LeStrange, and Antonin Dolohov. Of those, the last six were all escapees from Azkaban just five months previous.

The only Death Eater there that night who managed to, apparently, escape was Bellatrix LeStrange. She left by being side-along apparated away by the self-titled Dark Lord Voldemort, secretly true-named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Voldemort had duelled the so-called right hand man of himself, Sirius Black, in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic mere minutes after Harry had disappeared through the Veil of Death. The duel was 'won' by Black, when Voldemort apparated out of the atrium while taking the LeStrange witch with him.

Through a portkey created on the spot that night by Albus Dumbledore and handed off to retired Master Auror Alastair 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the six remaining Hogwarts students were portkeyed back to Hogwarts, directly into the Infirmary, accompanied by Remus Lupin.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After Dumbledore had apparated away, Bones had not been idle.

After once again demanding Fudge, Minister or not, stay the hell out of her investigation or be arrested, she personally escorted Sirius back to the DMLE and into an interview room, rather than a holding cell. As soon as she got him there and safe, she ordered the duty Master Auror to personally see to his safety and protection.

"If I so much as see a _wisp_ of a dementor anywhere near his 'cell', now that I've placed him under my personal protection, I will personally hunt you down and challenge you to a duel to the death for the dishonour it will have brought to the House of Bones. Got me?" she'd snapped at the man.

The auror, terrified his boss was quite willing to do just that, was about to swear on his magic he would make Sirius's safety his only duty until she returned. She'd had to stop him doing that.

She then left the interview room in which she'd stashed him and went to the holding cells. The eleven Death Eaters were put, two each with Malfoy on his own, into six holding cells. All she did was check to ensure they were there and had been properly processed.

Then she went to her office and called into her presence four aurors and two qualified auror healers - a master healer wizard and a journeyman healer witch. She had to contact them at home and order them in.

Once she had them, plus a heap more aurors she'd had called in to replace the ones that would be going to Hogwarts with her, she took them via the floo in her office to the Three Broomsticks. They then walked to the school and to the gates.

There, she found the gates locked.

"Blast them open," she ordered.

When none of her aurors moved - they were, instead, looking at her in surprise - she raised her wand, pointing it at the gates. "Any auror who does not cast a Bombarda Curse at the gates on my command to cast after the count of three, is immediately fired!

"One... two... three! _Cast!_ " she called, and then firmly incanted, " _Bombarda!_ " All four aurors, plus the journey-witch healer, joined her in the cast.

As the gates, blasted out of their stone frames and cartwheeled away into the grounds, she glared at the Master Healer.

He calmly returned, "I'm not an auror and I daresay I'm going to need all my magic once we reach the infirmary. An extra wand was not needed here."

She scowled, but gave a firm nod back. Then she led the way in through the busted gates and towards the school.

As they arrived at the doors, Flitwick was standing there waiting for them.

"Did you _have_ to blast the gates off their hinges?" he asked.

"This is a school; not a prison," she returned. "They shouldn't have been closed."

The little charms master sighed, "The Headmaster awaits you in his office."

"Good," she said. Then she turned to one of her Master Aurors and ordered, "Hammer. Take Peterson with you to the Headmaster's office and 'sit' on him. If he puts up a fuss, arrest him and take him back to the DMLE."

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Hammer, leading Senior Auror Peterson off towards the Headmaster's office.

"The rest of you, with me," she said before turning around and striding to the stairs to go up to the second floor and the school Infirmary.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was as dusk was beginning to fall at Harry's location that he looked up and saw something that should not have been possible; there were _two moons_. After standing on the hilltop where he'd clambered to try and see if he could see civilisation anywhere near him, not seeing any, he'd been standing there wondering what to do next when he'd looked to the stars. That's when he saw the two moons. The larger of the two was bigger than Luna, the moon of Earth, and the other was significantly smaller. However, there was no disbelieving they were both moons.

He gawked at them for a moment before he promptly fainted.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After practically having to force their way into the Infirmary at Hogwarts, the two Healers attached to the DMLE immediately moved to triage the six patients within. They knew five of them were at the Department of Mysteries just that evening, but didn't know, just yet, which of the six wasn't one of them.

Madam Poppy Pomfrey, the school medi-witch, was currently working on one young witch behind a set of screens.

She immediately popped out from behind the screens and demanded, " _What_ is the _meaning_ of this?"

Bones replied, "A DMLE investigation, Madam Pomfrey. Do not interfere."

The Master Healer then slipped by them both and went behind the screens. He'd moved so quickly and assuredly, Pomfrey didn't even have a chance to figure out what he was doing before he passed her.

"Hey!" she called, starting to head for the screens herself again. "You can't _be_ here!"

Bones had a quick look at a young teenage witch with her chest bare and eyes closed before the curtains closed again. She immediately entered behind Pomfrey and firmly said, "Pomfrey! That is Master Healer Periwinkle. Leave him be!"

Having ignored Pomfrey, Periwinkle had been scanning over the girl's chest and looked up in anger. "This young lady goes to Saint Mungo's, _right now_."

The 'young lady' was one Hermione Granger and she was currently unconscious.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has authorised only me to treat this lass," huffed Pomfrey. "I will _thank_ you―"

" _Shut your mouth_ , Pomfrey," Periwinkle snapped. "You have neither the training to deal with this properly, or the authority to interfere in what I medically do for a patient."

As Pomfrey gaped back in shock, Periwinkle turned to Bones and said, "This one. Saint Mungo's Casualty. _Right, the Hell, now_."

"But... but..." spluttered Pomfrey. "The Headmaster―"

"His decision is overruled and overturned, Pomfrey; by my authority as a Master Healer," he rode over her. "Ready her for transport, immediately. Nothing else."

Then he flicked a sheet over her bare chest and strode back out through the curtains.

Back out he looked to the next 'patient'. He spotted a blonde holding one of her breasts. He immediately looked to her and demanded in a kindly voice, "Your name, lass?"

"Luna Lovegood, Master Healer," she was still grasping her right breast and holding it quite gingerly.

Looking at how she was holding her boob, he asked, "I'll take a look at that." And moved forward.

She shook her head and used her other hand to indicate another patient over the other side of the ward. "You'll need to see him, first."

When Periwinkle turned to look where she was pointing, she added. "He got entangled in these brain things the Unspeakables had in these big tanks. I think he's hurt far more than I am."

Surprised, he looked back with a quick look and gave her a firm nod. "Your breast?"

"Just severe bruising, I think," she replied. "I can wait."

He gave her another nod and went across the room to Weasley's bed. "Tompkins?" he called.

The female 'journeyman' Healer looked up from where she was working on Neville Longbottom's nose. "Master Healer?"

"What have you triaged already?" he asked.

"This one has a badly broken nose and a couple of fingers on his right hand," she replied. "The one to my right has a sprained ankle. Nothing urgent. I've not checked any of the others, yet."

As he began to scan Weasley, he said, "Heal the nose and move on. The young witch behind the curtain is heading for Mungo's... and so is this one." He then cast a couple of stasis charms on the boy. "The young witch with the light blonde hair and pink jeans believes she just has a bruised breast. Leave her, for now, and see to the lass in the Slytherin uniform."

As Periwinkle prepared the Weasley boy for transport, he looked to the freshly-healed Longbottom boy and asked, "Do you know who this is?"

"Yeah," sighed Neville. "That's Ron Weasley."

Periwinkle nodded and said, "Thank you. His parents?"

"Arthur and Molly Weasley," called the girl with similar coloured hair to the Weasley boy. "Is he going to be alright?"

"I believe so, yes," replied Periwinkle, finishing his stasis charms. "Pomfrey!" he suddenly and firmly called.

Pomfrey came out from behind the curtains and irritably asked, "Yes?"

"That's ' _Yes, Master Healer_ ,' Pomfrey!" he snapped. "Remember your place!"

With a quick wince, Pomfrey repeated, "Yes, Master Healer?"

"This one is prepped and going to Mungo's, as well," he said, before turning fully to her. In an angry voice he almost-snarled, "Once Healer Tompkins and I are done, you and I are going to be having a little _chat_!"

Pomfrey winced again, "Yes, Master Healer."

"Have you finished prepping that young witch, yet?" he demanded.

"Yes, Master Healer," she replied. "However, Albus Dumbledore―"

"I don't give a busted wand what Albus _Bloody_ Dumbledore said," he snapped over her. "You knew your duty and have utterly failed at it. That's why you and I will be having our little chat, once we're done.

"In the meantime, move on to the young lass behind you on your left and see why she thinks she's bruised her breast."

Again Pomfrey winced, before she immediately turned and hustled over to young Luna.

A few moments later, she conjured up a set of hospital curtains around the bed as Luna began to carefully, gingerly, remove her light jumper.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	2. Sirius Takes Charge

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **A/N:** _Fixed a couple of errors in the previous chapter that slipped past the approximately eight times I'd already spell checked the damned thing before posting. Plus, being aware of the 'clunkiness' of the blend betwixt JKR's OoP canon writing and my own, I've tried to smooth it out a fair bit; I think I succeeded.  
_

 _As usual I don't directly respond to reviewers, simply because I write, predominantly, for myself; and I've already received, all up, over 800 emails in the past SIXTEEN HOURS (each 'Follow', 'Favourite' and 'Review' automatically generates an email to me; plus there's the 'PMs'). I do not doubt that - once many who don't have me set as a 'Follow (Author) pick up this story is being posted - that rate will increase, as usual, for a couple of weeks._

 _Anywho... as a reward for the minimalist whining I've received (of those PMs and Reviews I've managed the time to skim through) I decided to post the second Chapter._

* * *

 **Chapter Two - Sirius Takes Charge**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Harry woke once again he knew time had to have significantly passed, as it was now definitely night. And the _two moons_ had moved further across the sky.

Setting the unbelievable sight of two moons in the sky aside, he then looked to the heavens to see if he could recognise any of the constellations. He might have been an average student, but he'd studied hard for his OWL... fifth year... exams; and the Astronomy exam was one of them.

Again, he couldn't recognise any of them. He couldn't even see the North Star, the first star he'd been taught to find in his first first year Astronomy class. A further search of the heavens and he couldn't recognise any of it.

'I am _sooo_ screwed!' he thought.

With nothing else to do under the quite bright light of the twin moons, he sat on 'his' hilltop and thought about what he could do to get himself out of this mess.

"I need shelter, I need food, I need water and I need to make sure I don't go too far from that big ring thing," he muttered. When his stomach then rumbled he thought, 'I need food and water first, though.'

It took him about half an hour before he felt like face-palming himself for being an idiot.

Looking around on the ground he found a rock and quickly transfigured it into a large goblet. He almost knocked himself over onto his back when the magic seemed to almost explode out of his wand and transfigured the rock into a goblet almost double the size he expected.

Shaking that off he then aimed his wand at it and cast the Aguamenti, water, charm. What came out of his wand, again, was far more powerful than he expected. Instead of fresh water pouring out of his wand under low pressure, it poured out as if a garden hose was on full blast.

He managed to get water into his transfigured goblet and fill it, alright. However, about twenty times as much ended up on the ground around him, also drenching him in the process. That woke him up.

Again shaking off the surprise, he drank deeply of the water in the goblet and sat it beside himself as he continued to think.

'That's water taken care of,' he thought. 'Now food and shelter.'

He wasn't bothered about the wet clothes as it was still a warm night and he knew he'd dry soon enough.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Of the six students in the Hogwarts Infirmary only the young witch, Hermione Granger, and the young wizard, Ron Weasley, were of severe enough cases as to warrant being placed into stasis and be shipped to the Casualty (Emergency) ward at Saint Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

Dumbledore was summoned by messenger Patronus and ordered, lest he be arrested for Child Abuse for the young wizard and witch, to open the Infirmary floo for immediate transportation of the two. He, reluctantly, complied. However, even while doing it he tried to bluster his way out of it by saying he had complete faith in Madam Pomfrey to handle any issues.

Periwinkle drew his wand and aimed it right at Dumbledore's wand arm. "How about I blow your naffing wand arm off and we'll see if you're willing for only a medi-witch to see to your injuries. Hmm?"

Dumbledore scowled back, but complied with the ordered command. He had the floo open and active in short order.

However, surprising him, instead of the two healers immediately taking the two students through to Mungo's, the younger witch Healer activated the floo and only stuck her head within. A few moments later she quickly withdrew and four orderlies, a medi-witch and a medi-wizard stepped out.

Indicating Hermione and Ron, Periwinkle said, "Those two. Have the witch seen to by Alderton, if she's available; and the young wizard is to be seen to by both Sweeney and, once he's awake, Mind-Healer Justinian."

"Yes, Sir," said the clearly lead medi-witch.

All six then quickly had Hermione and Ron on portable stretchers and back out through the floo. Dumbledore continued to scowl at them and what they were doing, but kept his mouth shut with both Bones and Periwinkle glaring at him, daring him to say anything.

Once the six with their patients were gone, Dumbledore subtly flicked his wand at the fireplace and silently deactivated the floo again.

"Right!" said Bones, turning to the Master Auror who'd been with Dumbledore. "Hammer! You and Petersen can take Dumbledore, here, back to his office and sit on him again."

"Now, Amelia," he spluttered. "As _in loco parentis_ for these stu―"

"You are not!" she snapped back. "Their ILPs are their Heads of Houses. I'll be summoning _them_ to be with them while I talk with them. _You_... will be sitting in your office, waiting for me to come and talk to you. You will be waiting qui―"

"Amelia!" he shot back, cutting her off. "As Headmaster of this establishment it is―"

He saw the flash of red of the stunner she snap point-cast at him, but had no chance to block or avoid it at the short distance they were standing from one another. He crumpled to the floor.

"Put him on a bed and manacle him to it," she said to Hammer. "And, if necessary, stun his arse again."

"Yes, Ma'am!" replied a clearly amused Hammer, as she raised her own wand to levitate the old man.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Other than the capture of eleven Death Eaters, five of which were Azkaban prison escapees, the only successful outcomes of the night of the 18th of June 1996, the night that came to be known as the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, the 'Light' kept a prophecy out of Voldemort's hands; and Ministry personnel, including the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, saw for themselves that Voldemort had indeed 'returned' from believed death. Even then Fudge could not accept for more than two hours what his own eyes had witnessed, believing it to have been a trick. However, the admission from the captured Death Eaters, as well as the thirty plus other witnesses, put paid to that.

For almost exactly a full year since the night Voldemort had been 'revivified' in a graveyard in the township of Little Hangleton in June 1995, no one on the supposed 'light' side except a small few had believed the Dark Lord was back. The only ones who did were Dumbledore, those members of his (illegal) vigilante organisation known as the Order of the Phoenix and who five of quickly came together and formed the rescue party who turned up late; and Harry Potter and his small group of friends, five of whom accompanied him that night to rescue who they thought was being held there and tortured, Sirius Black.

Another 'captured' on the night was Sirius Black himself, an escapee of Azkaban three years earlier and believed 'right-hand man' of Voldemort. He, however, was no such person – he was an innocent man who had been tossed into the wizarding prison without even the by-your-leave of a trial, where he would have been able to prove his innocence.

After her interviews of the five remaining students of the Ministry Six who'd hared off from the school to the Ministry, including both the Granger lass and the Weasley boy, Bones then had Severus Snape arrested and dumped into the cell with Lucius Malfoy. Once she'd found out from the Longbottom boy and the Lovegood girl that Dolores Umbridge had cast the Cruciatus curse on Professor Minerva McGonagall while at the school, once they found her in the back, back end of the Forbidden Forest that witch also found herself in a holding cell.

Next, she set-to with interviewing the supposed Order of the Phoenix members, including a very reluctant Dumbledore, who'd been part of the group to race to the Ministry to rescue the kids. That had four of her aurors - Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, Emmaline Vance and young Nymphadora Tonks - 'ordered' into the DMLE and put into Interrogation rooms to be interviewed. She held off on calling in Mad-Eye Moody and Remus Lupin, the other two Order members besides Sirius Black who were there that night, until she'd dealt with those she already had.

Shacklebolt, Jones, Vance and Tonks would have been immediately fired for what had happened if it wasn't for just how much she now needed them. Instead, they were each demoted - except Tonks, because she was already at the lowest rank - and would be denied promotions for at least a year.

Now with enough evidence she interviewed each of the eleven Death Eaters who were there that night. All of them tried to use the excuse they were Imperius victims, then immediately refused to have Veritaserum used on them as they were all pure-bloods. However, Snape's interview with Veritaserum was delayed because he turned up 'positive' on the anti-Veritaserum Potion detection charm. He was removed to a separate cell and force-fed the neutralising agent, then flushing potions.

His interview was then delayed two days. However, even though Dumbledore had tried his hardest to get the man released, Snape was dosed and sang like a canary - or, rather, 'jailbird' as that was where he was clearly headed.

From the subsequent trials and irrelevant of not being forced Veritaserum, the five Death Eaters who had escaped Azkaban, since there was now a law on the books that escapees were to be immediately executed when caught, were sentenced to death. They were first 'Kissed' by a dementor, demons that consume your soul through what is known as the Dementor's Kiss, then their soulless bodies were tossed through the Veil of Death. The six caught who were _not_ escapees found themselves sentenced to Life in Azkaban as being Death Eaters caught in the act of 'being' Death Eaters and as parties to the 'murder' of wizarding Britain's boy-hero, Harry Potter.

Another sentenced to Life in Azkaban was Dolores Umbridge, after she was dosed with Veritaserum. _Someone_ had discovered the witch wasn't the pure-blood she had claimed to be - and was, in fact, a half-blood born of a wizard and a muggle woman by the name of Ellen Umbridge née Cracknell - and had provided proof of that by way of verifiable documentation to the DMLE by an anonymous post owl. As such, she was not protected from being forced to take Veritaserum under the pure-blood exemption statute.

What she admitted to while under the serum was enough to send her to Azkaban for Life and for Cornelius Fudge to immediately lose his position as Minister; he, however, quit first. It was a certainty he'd have been fired within a few minutes later if he had not.

Dumbledore had tried to have those sentenced to death only returned to Azkaban. However, he was vociferously overruled by the Wizengamot as a whole. They were _not_ prepared to let the murderers of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, be consigned to anything but the toughest of punishments.

As for Sirius Black, once he was properly interrogated for his 'crimes', it was discovered he was innocent after all. The Wizengamot, thoroughly embarrassed, then had no choice but to declare him _exonerated_ , not pardoned, of all charges. He was immediately compensated one hundred and twenty five thousand galleons for what he'd had to put up with over the past... including his twelve years in Azkaban... almost fifteen years.

Not wanting the 'blood gold' as he thought of it, Sirius secretly handed the lot over to Madam Bones; to only be used to train more aurors and properly outfit them with protective armour and similar. As the newly instated Lord of the wealthy Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Sirius didn't need the gold anyway. 125k in galleons represented less than two percent of what he now had access to as Lord Black.

Bones deposited that gold into a secret vault at Gringotts and, at Sirius's urging, told no one at the Ministry about it. Then she used the galleons, as promised, to start buying as much armour and the like as she could for her aurors.

When questioned about it later, she informed those asking it was all donated with the proviso it was to be used to outfit her aurors in battle armour, nothing else. She knew that if the Wizengamot discovered just how much had been given her, she'd quickly find her DMLE budget yet again slashed; irrespective of their 'nation, once again, being at war. She was no idiot.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

On his 'planet', Harry had spent his first week simply surviving. He had no interest in risking moving too far away from the ring thing, as he knew that once people figured out where he was they would go there to start their search for him.

However, after the first week he knew his chances of them coming for him had dropped down to single percentage points.

He had, however, managed to erect for himself a small shelter he'd transfigured from rock and dirt, had managed to kill a few small animals that looked like a cross between a lizard and a rodent of some form so he could eat, and was working on his meditation and Occlumency as he knew he'd need them once he got back to wizarding Britain.

He'd cooked the animals using a flame charm and rock transfigured into wood so he had a fire. Actually, just about everything he'd done was transfiguration or basic charms to help himself.

It was while he was meditating one evening he began to think about what magic was; what it _truly_ was. 'Intent forms a very large part of magic,' he thought. 'Professor McGonagall told us that. It's what that book on Magical Theory told us, too.'

' _Intent!_ ' he thought. 'What if I can accomplish what magic I need to do just through _intent_.'

Coming alert again, he exited his little shelter and, from about ten feet away from it, turned back to look at it.

Focusing on what he wanted his shelter to be, he pictured it as best as he could in his mind. Then he pointed his wand at it and firmly pumped magic down his wand and to the shelter _demanding_ the magic transform his shelter into what he wanted it to be.

In an almost pure white beam, magic surged from the tip of his wand and to the shelter. Firmly concentrating on the image he had in his mind, he continued to demand the change.

Ten seconds after first beginning the cast he cancelled pumping magic and almost staggered in relief.

Then he caught his first look at what he'd made happen.

Where his stone and dirt shelter had stood, now stood a much larger construction of solid stone. It was about fifteen feet by fifteen feet, had a doorway, but no door, an 'unglassed' window on each side of it and even had a flat roof made of what appeared to be a solid sheet of stone.

He gaped back in stunned surprise. Yes, it was what he'd wanted to appear, but in the back of his mind he did not think for a moment it would actually work.

However, for the time being he was somewhat exhausted. The transfiguration had taken a lot out of him.

He staggered inside, collapsed onto the smooth stone floor and was almost immediately asleep.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When he next awoke it was daylight again.

After a quick 'hunt' for more food, a quick cooking of it over a fire and, even though the meat tasted somewhat foul, he was able to wash it down with water. He was even still using the goblet he'd transfigured from rock that first night.

'Now, doors and windows,' he thought.

Though he'd yet to see any creature larger than the rabbit-sized lizard rat things he'd been eating, that did not mean there were no larger predators out there. He needed to be able to secure his hut in case one or more of those predators came a-calling.

Over that day he made a door for the cabin, windows for the window frames, then made a bed, bedding for it and a pillow. Then he began to make more furniture. All of it basic, but all of it serviceable.

'I don't know how long it's all going to last, but the goblet's still here,' he thought.

Because he was taking his time to make each piece, it took him all day just to get that far.

Once he knew he was now somewhat secure in his shelter/hut, he could concentrate better on his meditation and getting his Occlumency up to snuff.

As soon as the light started to fade, he transfigured a rock into a small bowl and cast a bluebell flame in it to give himself light.

Then he settled down to meditate again. After all, he didn't really have anything else to do to while away the time. He hadn't even brought a single book with him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

A week after the incident in the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore made his way to Gringotts. He took with him a copy of the Ministry's Declaration of Death for Harry James Potter, last remaining member of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter.

After getting in to see the goblin in charge of inheritances and knowing goblins were not a people to bother with the niceties of polite discourse – instead, wanting matters to get right to the point - he immediately said, "I have with me a copy of the Declaration of Death certificate for young Harry Potter." And handed it over.

The goblin, Hooknose, opened the document and then looked back at Dumbledore. "And?"

"As is my right as Mister Potter's lawful magical guardian, I've come to claim his estate," said Dumbledore.

"Denied," Hooknose immediately returned.

Shocked, Dumbledore was a moment before he said, "I do not believe you understand me. I am... _was_... Mister Potter's lawful magical guardian. By law and, unless Mister Potter wrote a Last Will and Testament... which I know he has not... I am the sole beneficiary of his estate.

"As such I've come to―"

Hooknose cut him off and said, "Do you _know_ what we do with _thieves_ in Gringotts, Mister Dumbledore? We put them to work before executing them."

Again shocked, Dumbledore spluttered a moment before he said, "I'm _sure_ I do not know what you mean. I was Mister―"

" _Heir_ Potter's magical guardian is Lord Sirius Black," snapped Hooknose. "We do not _care_ that the Ministry appointed you, as the Ministry had no right to do that. As such, you were never Heir Potter's magical guardian.

"You may have been his _legal_ guardian, at one time. However, you chose to abrogate your responsibilities as Heir Potter's legal guardian quite some time ago; thereby stripping yourself of legal guardian status.

"Now, if _Lord Black_ , as Heir Potter's true magical guardian, was to find himself attending me... I would be happy to discuss matters with him. You, however, have no right to any further information regarding confidential matters relating to the Potter Account."

As Dumbledore sat there, stunned, Hooknose then said, "That will be _all_ , Mister Dumbledore; you may leave. Should you attempt to access information or assets of the Potter accounts any further, you will be determined a thief and be... dealt with."

When Dumbledore still didn't move from his seat after a long few moments, Hooknose's expression turned into a scowl. " _Leave_ , wizard Dumbledore; before I have you thrown out at halberd point."

Dumbledore finally rose and left. His plan to acquire the Potter account for use in the, now once again upon them, Voldemort War had failed. He couldn't even send someone in with the boy's key, as it was not found in the boy's personal effects in his trunk. That meant he had to have had it on him when he went through the Veil.

He had to get to Sirius and 'convince' him to access the Potter accounts on his behalf. However, Sirius was currently not speaking with him. He'd even shut Grimmauld Place down to access, ordering the Order of the Phoenix to 'immediately vacate the premises'. Then locked himself and Remus Lupin behind the wards.

When he'd tried to convince Sirius, via floo, to allow the Order to keep using the place as their headquarters, he found himself almost violently ejected from his own fireplace. Two minutes later his office suddenly filled with the personal effects of the members that had, at the time, been at the place.

A moment later he received, via the house elf Kreacher, a formal notice from the man stating that if he or 'any of his lackies' attempted to enter the premises he would employ the war wards of the house against them.

Dumbledore knew that would mean the very likely death of anyone who tried.

As such, he had no choice but to try and communicate with the man via mail.

His first attempt, using a Hogwarts school owl, had the owl fly around in circles before returning unable to deliver. His next attempt was by using young Harry's owl, Hedwig.

Hedwig had flown off with the letter and not returned. He suspected Sirius of keeping the owl with him. Now that Hooknose had made him aware Sirius was the rightful magical guardian of Harry, meant the owl now belonged to him; which explained why it hadn't returned.

Next he called the little house elf, Dobby; the house elf he knew had secretly bonded with the boy after the boy had freed him from his abusive previous master, Lucius Malfoy.

Dobby had taken the letter and also not returned.

His next effort was asking Nymphadora Tonks, now Auror First Class after what happened at the Department of Mysteries and on-again-off-again girlfriend of Remus Lupin, to try and act as intermediary.

After being kicked out of the bank, he immediately sent her a letter via Fawkes, his phoenix companion, just to make the letter look more impressive and important by being delivered by a phoenix. He asked for her to attend him in his office that evening.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Just after dinner had wound up for the evening in the Great Hall of Hogwarts - only the staff were attending as the students had left school the previous Sunday - Dumbledore was in his office when the chime of an incoming floo call sounded.

He quickly waved his wand at the fireplace and waited the few moments for the call to connect.

A moment later, the 'ghostly' head of Tonks appeared in the green flames of the fireplace. "Headmaster?" she asked. "You wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes, my dear," he immediately replied. "The floo's open. Please step through."

The head gave a nod before it suddenly lifted and morphed into the no-longer-ghostly form of Tonks as she stepped out of the fireplace.

"What can I do for you, Headmaster?" she immediately asked, walking forward to sit on one of the chairs before his desk.

"I need you to act as my... agent... in speaking with Sirius... excuse me... your Lord Black," he began.

"No," she flatly and immediately replied. "I'm sorry, but I cannot do that."

Frowning back he asked, "Why ever not?"

"As you may or may not be aware, Lord Black has graciously brought my family back into the fold of the House of Black, recognising me for the first time and my mother again, as daughters of the House of Black. Further, he has formally recognised the marriage of my parents and recognised my father as a son of the House of Black via marriage.

"I have already been informed by my Lord Black he has no wish or desire to communicate with you, at this time, through any means or form. As a daughter of the House of Black it is my duty to my Lord to obey that instruction. As such I cannot act as your, as you put it, agent.

"My Lord has not yet ordered me to resign my membership of the Order of the Phoenix. However, I've no doubt he'll do precisely that if you attempt to push matters. So, please don't do that.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Headmaster; that does not involve me speaking with my Lord on your behalf?"

Through the tone and words used by the young witch opposite, knowing them not to be her normal tone or conversational English structure, Dumbledore knew what she'd just said to him must have been rehearsed; or at least prepared in advance. As such, he knew that whoever had prepared her had anticipated he'd try something like this. That meant he wasn't going to accomplish anything by pushing it.

With his typical hard-done-by sigh and expression of disappointment, Dumbledore sat back in his chair and said, "No, Miss Tonks. I believe you have made your point."

As Tonks then gave a firm nod back and began to rise, he said, "I find myself most bitterly disappointed Sirius thinks so little of me after all I've done for him."

Now standing before his desk, Tonks developed a light frown. "All you've done for him?" she scoffed. "Did you know that Madam Bones told him that if you had immediately gone to her back in mid-1994, when you first learned he was both innocent and hadn't received a trial, she would have given him one? She swore she'd have ensured his safety.

"That meant he'd have been found innocent back in about July of 1994. That also meant he wouldn't have lived for the past two years as a virtual prisoner in his own home. That also meant his godson _would not have gone haring off to the Ministry last week in an attempt to save him_.

"In other words, Headmaster Dumbledore, he knows that, as a result of your deliberate _inaction_ , you got his godson _killed_.

"And you're trying to force the issue of speaking with him?! Blood feuds have been called for less, Dumbledore."

She then spun away, walked back to the floo, used her own supply of floo powder kept in a pouch at her belt for that purpose to activate the floo and disappeared through the fireplace with a call of "Diagon Alley!"

She left behind a yet again shocked Albus Dumbledore.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Tonks had left his office, thinking of Sirius Dumbledore thought, 'At least the boy now recognises young Harry is dead.'

That led him to allowing his eyes to fall upon the various trinkets sitting on a small 'occasional' table off to his left. On that table were trinkets, doo-dads and knick-knacks that were... or had been... tied to the boy. They had been used to monitor the boy's health; the Horcrux behind the scar; his emotional state; the wards on his aunt's property in Little Whinging, Surrey; the blood magics his mother had wrought upon him; and ones to track his exact location. They were all now inert. And, to Dumbledore, that meant the boy truly was dead.

He could not have used those to prove the boy was dead to anyone else, though. The fact he had tracking charms and the like on the boy was, due to him not legally being the boy's magical guardian, illegal. Now that he was legally declared dead it meant they were no longer necessary, anyway. For the time being he would keep them right where they were, though, as a reminder to himself he needed to pay closer attention in future to his pawn- _people_.

However, what Dumbledore was completely unaware of was that the monitors and trackers did not fail because Harry was dead. The monitors all failed, in part, because the magic tying the trinkets to the boy could not stretch the approximately 8.6 _light years_ between them and where Harry ended up. As such, they simply snapped. The only ones that were accurate, even though they too would have snapped, were the ones monitoring the Horcrux and the protection magic on the boy. Both had failed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Harry went through the Veil, the 'magics' of the wormhole on the other side stripped away the soul fragment - not a Horcrux - from behind his scar, as well as the blood magics that were being use to protect the boy and block the ongoing attempt at possession of him by the soul fragment. This released back to him the approximately ten percent of his magic being used to empower the protection enchantment cast on him by his mother. It also broke the blood ward link between him and his aunt and uncle's place in Little Whinging; thereby freeing up a further approximately fifteen percent of his magic.

Further, the darkness and subtle confusion magic that had constantly plagued him, though he did not know if it, since the night his parents were murdered and he was 'infected' with that soul fragment had also been wiped away. As he had no idea that was what was causing him to be only an average student, as he had been 'average' for all of his remembered life, with it now gone he was finding himself able to rationally and logically think things through. He had quickly begun to notice that when he returned to trying to teach himself Occlumency.

He was now using that rational and logical thought process to make life better for himself on a planet he realised had to be light years from the planet Earth. His primary school education on the subject of 'Outer Space' told him at least that.

Without access to texts on magic he was using his wits, memories and fifth year magical education to figure out what he needed to do to survive. His first big epiphany was, of course, that magic was all about _intent_. Even with supposed accidental magic you needed to _intend_ for something to happen for it to happen.

His second epiphany was realising accidental magic, in most cases, wasn't as accidental as most witches and wizards thought. Wandless in almost all cases, yes; but it had to have been driven by _willpower_.

While spells he had learnt and began to learn from his memories of texts he had read and could now far more vividly remember came much easier, he still had to create his own charms and such through employing sheer willpower and intent.

One thing he had reasoned out related to Gamp's Fourth Law, transfigured food could not be consumed without great harm to the person who ate it. However, if you transfigured existing food into another food, then Gamp's Fourth Law didn't apply.

Knowing it could possibly kill him, but also knowing he really had no choice if he was going to do more than survive on this planet, he first tried to transfigure water into pumpkin juice.

It worked. Further, it didn't kill him.

His next effort was to transfigure the lizard meat he'd freshly caught into a roast lamb, his favourite meat. It, too, worked; so long as he made the transfiguration only last long enough for him to get the food into his stomach. He'd already realised that, once it was past his taste buds, how it tasted no longer mattered.

Realising as an 'omnivore' he properly needed plant-based food as well as meat to stay healthy, he'd also found a few edible plants that didn't make him sick; though they did taste foul, even after cooking them. He'd watched what plants the lizard rats ate and believed those to have the least risk. These, too, he cast weak transfigurations upon to last only long enough to get into his stomach.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After leaving Dumbledore's office, Tonks flooed directly to the Leaky Cauldron, the pub that acted as a gateway between muggle London and Diagon Alley. From there she apparated to a small grove of trees to the side of a park she knew of not far from Harry's home in Little Whinging.

There, she met Remus Lupin, who immediately scanned her for tracking and listening charms and the like. Surprising them both, they found none. Then both apparated to the Ministry atrium in London before then taking a floo, the only method of access to the place other than using the front door, to 12 Grimmauld Place in Kings Cross.

As they stepped out of the floo, with Tonks leading, Sirius was waiting for them. "How'd it go?" he asked.

"Good," Tonks replied. "I only felt Dumbledore once try a weak probing passive Legilimency scan. The moment it touched my shields he withdrew and didn't try again."

Sirius nodded and raised his wand. Before he cast, though, he asked, "Ready for me to remove the memory block?"

She nodded back and replied, "Please."

Sirius performed a couple of quick swishes and flicks and Tonks felt certain memories pop back into existence in her mind.

"They're back," she sighed in relief.

The memories that had been blocked were of her knowing Sirius had been to Gringotts Bank and made arrangements concerning Harry's affairs. He'd gone directly there after being released by the Ministry on being found 'Not Guilty' of the crimes he'd finally been actually charged with.

He'd first gone and demanded to see the life-stone he knew was attached to Harry's soul. It was still gently glowing, but greatly diminished. When he'd asked why it was behaving that way, the goblin's only guess was that 'Heir Potter' was alive but a very great distance away.

Now knowing that Harry was alive, he took control of the Potter estates as Regent and made damned sure no one at Gringotts could inform anyone else, especially including Dumbledore, that Harry was still alive - that his life-stone still glowed. Then added that no one was to know that he had taken control of the estate as Regent, or any other confidential matters relating to the estate.

Next, he _formally_ renamed the now missing Harry Potter as his personal heir apparent and Heir of Black.

Again next, he took back Bellatrix LeStrange née Black's dowry paid to House LeStrange, annulled her marriage, then kicked her out of House Black by magically 'disowning' her. He used the excuses she'd both failed to birth an Heir of House LeStrange, as required by contract, and supposedly 'killed' the rightful Heir of her primary House, Heir Black Harry Potter, to accomplish that.

During the recovery of the dowry, the goblins discovered a Horcrux, soul fragment, in the LeStrange vault and that the 'phylactery', container for it, was the fabled Hufflepuff Cup. The goblins destroyed the Horcrux without destroying the Cup and moved the Cup to the Black vaults as part of the recovery.

Then he brought his cousin, Andromeda Tonks née Black, back into the family as a recognised daughter of the House, recognised Edward 'Ted' Tonks as her husband and a son-through-marriage of House Black and recognised Nymphadora Nanette Tonks as both their daughter and a newly instated daughter of House Black. Then added Andromeda as the Heir of Black after Harry and Nymphadora as the Heir after Andromeda.

Next, he stipulated that Narcissa Malfoy née Black and Draco Malfoy, her son, were kicked from the line of succession for House Black _and_ had caused to be sent official notice to both of that fact. He did not put it past Lucius Malfoy, once he managed to 'escape' from Azkaban - that is, buy his way out - to try and have him, Sirius, assassinated believing his son would immediately inherit the Black Lordship.

With the parchmentwork out of the way he moved to have both the Black and Potter accounts fully audited.

Other than the payments that went out as stipends to those members of the House of Black still alive at the times, that account had not been touched. However, he was immediately informed that 'wizard Dumbledore' had borrowed certain artefacts from the Potter vaults over a decade ago and hadn't returned them. They included the Potter pensieve and a small stack of priceless books.

Furious, Sirius had them immediately retrieved by the goblins employing their recovery magics.

'Let that old bastard wonder what happened to them,' he thought. ' _I_ certainly won't be telling him.'

One of the items they recovered through the magic was in no one's possession. It was a family signet ring with a chunky stone magically affixed to the underlying family crest - the House of Peverell crest. The goblins immediately detected it contained a Horcrux and had the Horcrux destroyed without destroying the ring, the phylactery, or the stone just as with the Cup. However, they informed him it had been recovered and that it _had_ contained a Horcrux. The ring and stone were separated and went into the Peverell vault.

The exercise, though, confirmed for Sirius that Harry was also the Heir of Peverell. A 'state' that had never before been confirmed by the Potters. The knowledge of that, too, was covered under the confidentiality contracts of Gringotts.

He also learned that Harry's trunk, still at Hogwarts at the time, had been 'rifled' through with a small sack of coin missing. However, he also found out that Ronald Weasley had 'claimed' Harry's Firebolt broom for himself, as he believed 'Harry would want him to have it'. However, he did not learn of those two until Dobby had turned up with a letter from Dumbledore and Sirius confirmed that Dobby had bonded to the boy.

The first thing he did after ordering Dobby to go and get Harry's things from Hogwarts - and finding out Ron Weasley had stolen Harry's broom and the coin pouch - was to send the elf with a note to Arthur Weasley, the boy's father, informing Arthur what his youngest son had done and that the Weasleys, as a whole, were now considered 'undeclared' enemies of House Black until he knew that the boy had been suitably punished.

The letter he received back by owl, the Weasleys' elderly owl Errol, informed him that Arthur had 'tanned the boy's bum' so much he now had to sit on a very soft cushion just to sit for short periods; otherwise, he had to lie on his stomach as he couldn't lie on his back. When he visited the twins in their new store in Diagon Alley a day later, they told him that their father had just about drawn blood from Ron's bum-cheeks from hitting him with a switch on his arse so much. They'd also informed him that their father had come very close to disowning the boy and that it was only the begging and pleading of their mother that stopped him from doing so. His mother claimed Ron had done that because he 'must be' still suffering from the effects of the 'brain things'.

Another act Sirius was very happy to accomplish was to eventually kill the remaining Black house elf, Kreacher, for actions that led to harm to both the Lord and Heir of the House. Dobby had immediately taken the role of house elf for Black and, though he swore he was still 'Harry Potter Sirs' house elf, soon had Grimmauld Place cleaned and once more presentable. That Dobby was still a Potter house elf and loyal to Harry was yet further proof Harry was still alive.

Further, once clean, Sirius realised it didn't do much for the shabbiness of the place. So he immediately began making plans to have the whole interior almost gutted before then rebuilding and refurnishing. They'd get started on that as soon as they could.

With Tonks once again remembering her blocked memories, she headed for home, leaving Sirius and Remus to talk.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Another event that occurred over the past week was Sirius receiving a floo call from the young Ravenclaw girl who had accompanied Harry to the Department of Mysteries, Luna Lovegood of House Lovegood.

As her head floated in the flames, Sirius walked in and asked, "Miss Lovegood? What can I do for you?"

"I need to speak with you in private and most urgently, Lord Black," she replied. "May I step through?"

Knowing her to be a Fourth year and no real threat, and that she was willing to accompany Harry to 'rescue' him from Death Eaters simply because he was a friend, Sirius frowned and then waved his wand at the fireplace. "The password is 'Harry lives', Miss Lovegood. You may step through."

The ghostly head of the young girl gave a short nod back and said, "Thank you."

She withdrew for a moment and Sirius heard her call from her side of the connection, "Harry Lives!"

A few moments later she was stepping out of the fireplace.

Having already met her and spoken with her to thank her for being in the Ministry with Harry, he was not surprised by her dress. She was wearing a floral summer dress over blue denim jeans, had a handmade necklace of butterbeer corks around her neck and tiny radishes dangling as earrings from her ears. Her platinum blonde hair was also tied back in a ponytail with what looked like mistletoe.

"What can I do for you, Miss Lovegood?" he asked, choosing once again to make no comment about her style of dress.

"You need to set aside your plans to go through the Astra Porta... what you call the Veil of Death... to chase after Harry," she firmly stated. "It will not work. You will die."

Shocked, he demanded, "How did you know what I was planning?"

"Like I have told no one else of your plans, I pray that you will tell no one else why I know," she replied. "I am an undeclared and unregistered Seer."

Again shocked, he was a moment before he asked, "And you See that I will be unsuccessful?"

"Yes," she replied. "Harry needs to be where he is for some time yet. Have no fear, he will be found and he will be brought back; but it will be by others who mean him no harm. You merely need to remain patient."

"Where _is_ he?" he demanded.

"To find out, you merely need to walk outside on a cloudless night and look to the heavens," she replied. "Look for the brightest star - the one whose name shares your own - and you will know where he is."

"I..." he tried. "That makes no sense!"

"It will," she returned. "When the time is right you will know I did not lie to you.

"Harry needs to remain where he is. Where he is, though he is currently feeling alone, he is learning the secrets of magic at its most basic level. When he returns he will be able to accomplish his destiny. If he returns too soon he will fail in his destiny and will die."

That shocked the old dog to his core.

"He will die?" he hesitantly asked.

"Yes," she immediately and firmly replied. "Unless he remains where he is for the time being."

"For how long?" he demanded.

"Long enough," she replied.

Sirius racked his mind trying to think of a way to help his godson and knew he didn't have the answers. Finally, he turned to Luna and asked, "What can I do to help him?"

Luna had stood there watching her friend's godfather coming to the conclusion she needed him to. Then saw when he came to that determination and asked his question.

"You have already discovered that the Dark One... and he very soon truly must not be named by his false name of Voldemort as he will soon have a taboo on it set up again... has created abominations of magic known as Horcruxes."

That had Sirius give a quick start of shock.

"... Four have already been destroyed; the diary, the Cup, the signet ring and one other. A fifth phylactery resides in Hogwarts in a room the Marauders never found, the Room of Requirements. It is the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Dobby can get that for you and you can give it to the goblins to be cleansed, just as they have cleansed the Cup and the ring. Be aware, though, that it has a strong compulsion charm for anyone who touches it to don it. You must not."

"How many..." he tried, not truly wanting to ask.

"Besides the Diadem there are two others. One is the Locket of Slytherin." And she pointed to the glass cabinet sitting in the corner of the room. "It is there."

Sirius immediately whirled to look at the cabinet in horror.

"Your brother stole it from where the Dark One had hidden it. He died while retrieving it," she explained. "He gave the task of destroying it to the then Black house elf, Kreacher. However, Kreacher was unable to destroy it and had still not been able to accomplish that task before you killed him for his betrayal. It is now up to you to take it, along with the diadem, to the goblins and have them strip the soul fragment away."

"Regulus?" he hesitantly, painfully, asked. "Regulus tried to destroy one?"

"Yes," she replied. "However, as I explained, he died in the act of collecting it from where it was hidden and tasked the house elf with destroying it."

"He turned to the light?" he querulously asked.

"No," she replied. "I'm sorry, but he only found out that Tom Riddle, the real name of the Dark One, was actually a half-blood and not the pure-blood he claimed to be. Regulus was angry at having been fooled and that many of the Dark One's followers were the same. His intent to destroy the Horcrux, once he learned of it, was to punish the Dark One for lying to and fooling him and others, no more."

Sirius nodded back. The Lovegood girl's explanation made sense to him.

Thinking a bit more he then asked, "You said _three_ more and you've only told me of _two_. What's the other one?"

"Sorry," she replied. "But that is one that only Harry can deal with. I cannot inform you as it would lead you to hunting it down and destroying it before it is time for it to be destroyed. It would also lead you to your death and you need to be here once Harry returns."

"You'll inform Harry?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "I will not need to. Harry will destroy it in the process of destroying the Dark One."

Sirius collapsed onto one of the armchairs and indicated for Luna to sit on another.

Once she sat he asked, "You named the Veil of Death the... Portia Astra?"

"Astra Porta," she corrected. "It's Latin."

Sirius frowned in thought and muttered a bit before he looked to her in shock. "Star Gate!?" he exclaimed.

"Yes," she calmly returned. "That is its proper name in modern English. It is also far, _far_ older than the Unspeakables think it is."

" _How_ old?" he demanded.

"Literally, _hundreds of thousands_ of years," she returned.

Sirius damn near fainted.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Two days after Hermione returned home from Saint Mungo's, the day after the Hogwarts Express returned to Kings Cross from Hogsmeade loaded with students returning home at the end of the 1995/96 school year - and after Hermione had 'sequestered' herself in her room, crying for the first of them - she had finally stopped that and was now reminiscing. She'd been doing that for the past day.

The Grangers had a knock at their front door and Hermione's father, Marcade, answered it. He and his wife, Sandra, had taken the week off to 'be there' for their grieving daughter. As far as they all knew her best friend, Harry, was dead with not even a body left behind to bury.

When Marcade opened the door it was to a man dressed impeccably in a bespoke suit standing outside. The only thing that stood out against his apparent appearance was that his shoulder-blade length dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, tied with a black ribbon.

"Mister Granger?" the man politely asked.

"I am he," replied Marcade.

"I am Lord Sirius Black," replied Sirius. "Your daughter is a friend of my godson, Harry Potter. May I... come in?"

Surprised, Marcade stepped out of the doorway while holding the door open and replied, "Of course, my Lord."

As Sirius stepped forward he held out his hand to shake and said, "Please, call me Sirius."

Marcade automatically accepted the hand and said, "Marcade Granger. Please call me Marcade... or Marc, if you've a mind to."

"You prefer Marc?" asked Sirius, releasing hands.

"Yes," replied Marcade.

"Then I thank you for allowing me to address you so informally, Marc."

Marc then indicated further into the house and a door off the hallway in which they stood. "Please," he said. "Our sitting room is right there."

Sirius gave a nod and said, "Thank you." And preceded Marc into the room.

As he entered he saw a woman of similar age rise in surprise; and paused.

Marc smoothly stepped past and said, "Lord Black, this is my wife, Sandra."

Sirius walked over, took the woman's offered hand and, instead of shaking it, turned it palm down and raised it to his lips as he bowed forward. He lightly kissed the back of her knuckles and, as he released her hand and straightened, smiled and said, "A pleasure. And, please, call me Sirius."

"S-Sandra," she hesitantly and softly returned. "Or Sandi."

"Please have a seat," said Marc, indicating an armchair. "Can I get you anything?"

As Sirius sat in the offered chair, he said, "Whatever is available and you care to join me with is fine."

"Tea?" asked Sandra.

Sirius smiled back and said, "That would be lovely."

Sandra muttered, "Yes. Tea." And hustled out of the room.

As she left, Marc said, "We heard about what happened to your godson. We're sorry for your loss."

Sirius sadly smiled back and said, "Thank you."

"And, what can we do for you?" asked Marc.

Getting right to the point, Sirius replied, "I would like the opportunity to speak with your daughter, Hermione. However, _if_ you allow me to speak with her, I must insist that at least one of you... you and your lovely wife, that is... also be present. It would be... ungentlemanly... otherwise."

"As proper," nodded Marc.

Once Sandra returned with the makings for tea on and in a lovely serving set of silver, Marc quietly said to her, "Could you go and inform Hermione that Lord Black―"

"Just let her know 'Sirius', please," said Sirius, cutting in. And explaining, "She would be unlikely to know I've taken up my Lordship and already knows me as 'Sirius'."

Sandra gave a nod and said, "Will do. I shan't be a moment."

Less than a minute later and before she could return from going upstairs, there was the rapid falling of feet coming down the stairs. Sirius stood and was braced, ready, as he already knew and expected Hermione's reaction.

Hermione came barrelling in the door, hesitated only a jot to locate her 'target' and ran across the few feet from the doorway to him before throwing herself into his arms. She was already sobbing piteously.

"They told me he's _dead_ , Sirius!" she wailed. "They told me he fell through the Veil of Death!"

As Sirius, now with his arms wrapped around her back as she had her arms wrapped around his shoulder and neck, held her, he quietly made consoling and 'there there' noises for her.

" _Please_ tell me he's not!" she sob-begged.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he sighed. "I can't do that."

As Hermione wailed even more in his arms, Sirius felt like a real heel. However, he knew he could not tell her what the Lovegood girl had told him.

For a start, he had promised Luna he would not disclose he knew her to be a Seer. That information would be restricted to only three people, not including Luna, and Hermione was not one of them. Secondly, he knew Hermione would very likely go straight to Dumbledore with the information. And thirdly, even if she did promise and was willing to keep the secret, she had no Occlumency to protect her mind from the likes of Dumbledore if the old bastard decided to use Legilimency on her.

For the time being, Hermione would not be made aware Harry was still alive and only so far away no one was able to get to him yet.

However, Sirius was not there to lie to the girl about Harry's 'supposed' fate. He was there to get answers to questions he had and knew the girl was the only one – with the Weasley boy proving himself to be a thief and liar - who could answer them. Secondly, because of her loyalty to Harry - even if tempered with her loyalty to Dumbledore - together with her willingness to go to the Department of Mysteries to 'rescue' him even though she knew it to very likely be a trap by Riddle, he was going to go out of his way to help the girl. He'd promised Luna.

After a minute of the girl sobbing in his arms (and possibly ruining his brand new expensive muggle suit in the process) he firmly, but gently, pushed her away from him and nearly to arms length away. "Sweetie, I need to talk to you about Harry. I need that talk to be open and in-depth," he firmly said. "As such, I need you to set aside your grief... just as I have needed to... and _talk_ with me. Can you do that?"

Wiping her eyes with a sleeve of her long-sleeved blouse and while accepting a small handful of tissues her mother compassionately handed to her from the side, Hermione nodded.

"Thank you," said Sirius. He then looked to a still standing nearby Sandra and used his chin to indicate the couch opposite.

Sandra wasn't daft; she immediately latched onto Hermione and carefully guided her back to sit on the couch while Sirius sat back in the armchair opposite. Sandra sat alongside her daughter, while also holding her hand.

As everyone sat again, Sirius said, "I've been talking with others of your little group who accompanied Harry to the Ministry that night. I've already heard a lot about what happened. However, many of them said the best person to speak to about it was _you_.

"While Ron Weasley has been telling everyone he was Harry's 'best mate', it was very apparent that his best friend was, in fact, you. I have had that information confirmed by two others."

"No," stuttered Hermione. "But... _Ron_..."

"No, Hermione," he gently said. "What you seem to be unaware of is that, while you were recovering in hospital, Ron... after being released from hospital... returned to the school for the last two days before the Express returned to Kings Cross.

"The first thing he apparently did on returning to the castle was to rifle through Harry's trunk and claim for himself whatever he wanted. Apparently, that was Harry's coin pouch and his Firebolt.

"When the boys in his dorm tried to stop him, he told them that Harry had told him that, if anything was to happen to him, Ron was to take from his effects whatever he wanted... especially his Firebolt."

"No... but... _you_ bought that for him!" she decried.

"Indeed," he nodded. "The only other thing Ron took was, as I said, his coin pouch."

"When I had the goblins of Gringotts employ their magics to recover everything that had been stolen from the House of Potter, I found out Ron had stolen the broom and coin pouch."

A small lie, it was Dobby who made him aware of that.

"I then wrote to Arthur and demanded them back. Ron lied to his father and told him that Harry had told him he could have them. The other boys in his dorm told me that, to the best of their knowledge, Harry did no such thing.

"When Arthur confronted the boy about it and after some effort on Arthur's part, he finally admitted Harry _didn't_ do that and that Ron believed Harry _would_ have if he'd thought of it.

"That's theft!" declared Marc.

Sirius looked to him and nodded. "It is, yes. I've also since recovered both. However, I also believe young Mister Weasley also didn't return all that was in the coin pouch, either. However, I know Harry didn't keep that much―"

"Approximately thirty galleons, ten sickles and five knuts," Hermione promptly stated.

Sirius smiled and said, "That you knew that does not surprise me. I'll also tell you that the boy did not return anywhere near that much. However, I'm not going to chase after him for it. Obviously the boy thought _that little_ of Harry's friendship and legacy he was quite willing to steal a little gold from him, plus the broom, after he died.

"Just so you know, Hermione, as a result of that... treachery... I've formally announced the House of Weasley to be enemies of the Houses of Potter and Black. The theft of the broom, valued at over one thousand galleons, was more than enough for me to do so."

"But... you've got it back," she whined.

Her father cut in. "That is neither here nor there, Hermione," he firmly said. "Lord Black only got it back because the Weasley boy was _caught_ with it. It was still theft."

Sirius added, "I could have easily had young Ronald charged with that theft, Hermione. And, because he's over fourteen and knows right from wrong, the charge would have stuck.

"I did not do that because I have respect for _Arthur_. The shame of having a son publicly labelled as being a thief would have _gutted_ the man. I'll also tell you that, according to the twins, only the begging and pleading of their mother stayed their father's hand from formally disowning the boy. That's how big an issue this is."

Hermione looked down and away and sadly nodded, understanding.

Relaxing, happy in that she was finally understanding, Sirius sat back and said, "Now. I need you to tell your side of the story about Harry and what has happened at the school. And... please... start at the beginning."

Hermione instantly developed a guarded expression and said, "I... don't know if I should do that."

"No, Hermione," said her father. "You _will_ do that. As your father and rightful guardian, I'm afraid I'm _ordering_ you to do it."

Hermione winced and tried, "Sirius... ummm... perhaps if you and I were to go somewhere private―"

"No, Hermione," he firmly said. "You are a young witch and under-aged. It wouldn't be proper."

"Indeed," muttered Marc.

"Only for another couple of months," she returned. "I'll be seventeen in September and of-age in the magical world."

"Firstly," said Sirius, "That is irrelevant. Secondly, I'm led to believe that of-age in the _muggle_ world... where we are now... is _eighteen_."

"It is," said her father. "Hermione, this talk has been a long time coming. Your mother and I also want to know what's been going on. And, now that Lord Black is here and obviously has already talked to quite a few others to get their sides of the stories..."

Sirius nodded.

"... He'll be able to tell us if you're leaving things out or... heaven forbid... you try to _lie_ to us."

Again, Sirius nodded.

"I'm insisting, Hermione," Marc firmly said. "I am your father and it's time to come clean."

Hermione had a pained expression on her face and clearly appeared to want to be anywhere else, but in that sitting room.

It took her mother firmly saying, "Hermione. I, too, am going to have to insist. Start talking, young lady... and you can start with your first year."

She started slowly - reluctantly - and it took a while. However, she soon started opening up to her parents and Sirius everything that had happened across the last almost five years that 'weren't right'.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	3. Bringing Him Home

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Three - Bringing Him Home**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Sirius had arrived at the Grangers' it was late morning.

As Hermione had hesitantly begun to speak of what happened in the magical world - not just what she was involved in, but others as well; especially Harry - none of the three adults were willing to stop her while she was still freely speaking to them.

However, after she wrapped up second year it was then one o'clock in the afternoon. Sirius suggested they stop to give Hermione a chance to soothe her throat and Sandra suggested they stop to have lunch. She immediately invited Sirius to join them, who promptly accepted.

After eating, an again reluctant Hermione had to be again prodded to start telling them what happened in third year. However, for that year, Sirius was able to add to what had happened from his point of view.

It was during then that Sirius had called Dobby and had the little elf bring both he and Hermione a throat soothing potion.

"Dobby's with you now?" asked Hermione. "You haven't made him a _slave_ , have you?"

Sirius sighed and said, "Miss Granger, house elves are a _cursed_ species; believed cursed by the Great Merlin himself. In order to live they need to be bonded. Unbonded house elves quickly waste away before they soon die in agony.

"They either have to bond themselves to a magical House or a place very rich in magic; and there's only three of the second in Britain. They are Hogwarts, the Ministry and Saint Mungo's. All other house elves must bond themselves to magical families.

"When Harry freed Dobby from Lucy Malfoy, unknown to Harry Dobby secretly and freely bonded himself to the House of Potter. If he hadn't, he would have died.

"As such, Dobby is _willingly_ a house elf of House Potter. As I am now the Regent of House Potter, I could have freed Dobby. However, Dobby has begged me not to do that and, in respect for Harry, I will _not_ do that.

"Do you understand?"

Hermione thought about it for a while before she quietly asked, "He would die?"

"Painfully," Sirius firmly returned.

"And no one knows how to free them of the curse?" she asked.

"Believe me, it's been tried," he said. "The curse is believed to have been done using the old and forgotten magics. And, with Merlin believed as powerful as he was, no one has the power to break it. However, all those who have researched it have come away from it with the belief it would be a bad idea, anyway.

"At the time Merlin cursed them, house elves were considered an evil race of beings. The wizarding world was at war with them... and the wizarding world was _losing_. It's why it is believed Merlin did it."

"I would _still_ like to look into it," she quietly said.

"And you're welcome to," he returned. "I just ask that you research it _before_ you get it into your head to try and fix it."

She nodded back.

"Anyway," said Sirius. "You were up to the part where Harry saw me drag Ron to the Whomping Willow..."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Hermione had finally finished it was late afternoon and Sirius was again invited to stay for the meal; this time, dinner.

He thanked them, accepted and said, "This now brings me to the next reason why I'm here."

When the three Grangers nodded back, he said, "Firstly, do not worry about the hospital costs of Hermione's treatment at Saint Mungo's; I've already paid it."

As the three Grangers were shocked, it was Marc who spoke; blurted, really. " _What?!_ _Why_ did you do that?"

"Because your daughter, already knowing it was a likely trap of Riddle's at the Department of Mysteries, still went there with Harry to try and rescue me," he replied. "As such, I accept it was my responsibility, as Harry's magical guardian, to ensure she was both properly cared for at the hospital and to pay the costs. It was the very _least_ I could do."

When the Grangers settled again, accepting, with even Marc nodding in acceptance, Sirius gave them the next bit of news.

Looking to Marc he said, "I take it from your reactions during Hermione's recollections that you will not be allowing your daughter to return to Hogwarts."

" _Hell, no!_ " Marc blurted.

"What?" Hermione exclaimed. "But... _daddy_!"

" _No_ , pumpkin!" he firmly returned. "Not just no, but _Hell no_!"

"But, daddy!" she whined. "I _have_ to!"

"Actually, Hermione; no, you don't," Sirius calmly corrected her. "As you have completed your OWLs... and I have no doubt you've significantly passed all of them... you can withdraw from Hogwarts without having your wand snapped and you and your families' memories wiped.

"However, though I've explained what won't happen won't, as a witch who's only managed to complete her OWLs you will be in a poor situation to successfully secure a career. And, there, I have an answer."

While Hermione was clearly reluctant, both Marc and Sandra clearly wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Because of your position in my godson's heart... together with how you stood by him this past five years through everything he went through... I'm very prepared to give your parents an offer for you to attend school in the magical United States - at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"Further, I will both pay for it and ensure you are provided with a permanent International portkey from there to here and back, if needed.

"That is, of course, unless your parents choose to emigrate to the United States, just to get the Hell away from the risk that is the recommencement of the Voldemort War. If they do, then I will provide _all_ the financial assistance needed for them to accomplish that."

"But, that would cost a fortune!" said Sandra.

Sirius smiled back and said, "Funnily enough, I happen to have one. Actually, I have _four_ of them. As well as indisputable ownership of the Black fortune, I also have full control of the Potter and LeStrange fortunes. Those three, together, have made me, by far, the richest wizard in the country; if not the world. The fourth is a Potter family secret, so I cannot even allude to it.

"Believe me; moving you, your household and your business to the United States would not even cost me one month's interest payments and dividends on _one_ of those fortunes.

"Riddle knows Hermione to be a close personal friend of Harry. That has automatically made her... and you... a prime target of his. Now that he's come out of hiding, it isn't a matter of _if_ he comes after you, only _when_. I see it as my duty to ensure you're outside the country and away from his clutches."

Stunned, the three Grangers did not know what to say.

Eventually, Marc said, " _Wee'llll_... have to discuss it... as a family."

Sirius calmly nodded back and said, "Of course. It's a big decision. However, you've now heard from Hermione just how dangerous the man and his Death Eaters are. I wouldn't _dream_ of pushing you, but it would be a great relief to me and in Harry's memory if you accept.

"I do have one proviso, though. Hermione... and you... are to cut all communications with any of the Weasleys and Dumbledore; nor allow _anyone_ to act as a go-between, including someone such as Minerva McGonagall."

"Oh, _believe_ me," said Marc, quite emphatically. " _That_ was going to happen, at any rate."

Hermione winced, but didn't retort or otherwise disagree.

The subject was dropped for the rest of the afternoon and evening through and beyond dinner.

Just before he left, though, Sirius told Marc that Dobby would be instructed to answer Hermione's call when they made their decision. They could pass a note to him via Dobby and Dobby would immediately deliver it.

Dobby turned up at Grimmauld Place with a note bearing their decision only two days later. Though Hermione was at first against it, she came around and her parents accepted. In the end, all it took was for them to remind her Harry would not be at Hogwarts, either.

They were gone within two weeks. Sirius had everything arranged through the goblins in Gringotts, MaCUSA; rather than Gringotts, London.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Dumbledore, fully expecting to be reinstated as Chief Warlock and Britain's wizard-Ambassador to the ICW soon after it became apparent 'Voldemort' was indeed back, found himself utterly shocked when he wasn't.

The arrest and subsequent imprisonment for 'Life' of Severus Snape played only one part in that. When it became public, partly as a result of Snape's Veritaserum-driven statement that Dumbledore had deliberately cut all communications between the 'Boy-Who-Lived' and almost everyone else - and that cut in communications went a great deal towards why Harry ended up that night at the Department of Mysteries - no one was that stupid they did not quickly realise that Dumbledore's deliberate actions played a significant role in Harry's, their boy hero's, 'death'.

The only position Dumbledore managed to retain out the other side of it was the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts. And that was only because it was successfully argued by his law-wizard that the old man's dismissal as Headmaster was unlawful. What also went a long way towards Dumbledore keeping the position of Headmaster was that, while everyone now knew he was partly responsible for Harry's death, he was still the 'only' wizard Voldemort feared. Therefore, him being at Hogwarts and protecting the Heirs, their children, was where he 'needed' to be. It wasn't justice that had him retaining the Headmastership, it was the self-serving interest of the Members of the Wizengamot.

When he verbally railed against his denied reinstatement as Chief Warlock and Britain's wizard Ambassador before the Wizengamot, it was Augusta Longbottom who logically put forth that the position of Headmaster was a full-time position and Dumbledore really couldn't have time to properly attend to other full-time positions, such as being Chief Warlock.

She then further dug the verbal knife in by stating that 'traditionally' the Chief Warlock's seat was always held by one of the Lords of the Noble Houses. And Dumbledore only had a seat on the 'Mot (the Wizengamot) due to his earning the Order of Merlin. The House of Dumbledore was only a minor House, certainly not a Noble one. Dumbledore was utterly stumped for a logical rebuttal; because she was right and he knew it.

If anyone else had said it, he would have immediately done his damnedest to seek political revenge against them and fight for the seat. However, with Harry now 'proven' not to have been the Chosen One of prophecy to defeat Riddle simply by 'dying' and not by Voldemort's hand, he needed the somewhat elderly witch on his side to now mould her grandson, Neville, to be the One.

So, though he absolutely hated to do so, he 'magnanimously' and verbally acceded to her logical observations and didn't push it.

He left it for almost a full month before he began to subtly work on her about his training her grandson. That started with telling her and proving by use of a borrowed pensieve – now that the goblins of Gringotts had 'stolen' his - that there existed a prophecy it was Neville's 'duty to wizarding Britain' to complete.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

One of the last things the Grangers did as they were leaving the United Kingdom - their last British act, as it were - was to send Hermione's official notice of withdrawal from Hogwarts to Minerva McGonagall, together with her Prefect's badge.

Sirius had gone into the Ministry to speak with Griselda Marchbanks's people in the Wizarding Examinations Authority to find out exactly what the Grangers needed to do so there were no loopholes someone could exploit against them when she withdrew. It turned out she only needed to make sure she'd earned the minimum required number of OWLs - she'd earned far more than the minimum - and send a formal letter, signed by her guardians, to the Deputy Headmistress/master stating her intent to withdraw. While there he was also able to collect a certified copy of her OWL results.

Because Hermione was considered a muggle-born and her guardians were non-magicals, and it did not specifically state it wasn't meant to be anyone but her magical guardian who made that determination, Sirius requested and became her magical guardian via the Wizarding Children's Services. Then both he and both her parents, plus Hermione herself, co-signed the letter. Sirius then sent that letter using Hedwig direct to McGonagall, just as he knew the Grangers' aeroplane was taking off from Heathrow Airport.

When McGonagall received the letter, she carefully read through it and sighed in extreme disappointment before setting it aside. It joined a small stack of similar letters from others.

The letter covered everything that 'went wrong' and specifically listed out and numbered each law and/or school rule that was broken by the staff - especially the Headmaster _and her_ \- regarding her, Hermione, and what she personally and specifically witnessed.

It also covered how she now had her OWLs and was free to withdraw, but did not state she was transferring to Ilvermorny; and would be 'seeing what she could do to further her education in non-magical schooling', but did not state outright she would be attending a non-magical school.

In the past, McGonagall would have taken the letter direct to Dumbledore. However, after what came out of the trials concerning how much Dumbledore was to blame for Harry's death - and of which she knew herself to unwittingly being a party to - those days were over. In her mind, Dumbledore would now be told as little as possible.

She was already working out how to do that so he wouldn't know Miss Granger would not be attending Hogwarts until the First of September.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Another to receive a personal letter from Hermione, co-signed only by Sirius this time, was Professor Filius Flitwick. As well as being both a Duelling Master and the Charms Master of Hogwarts, he was also the Head of Ravenclaw House.

The letter detailed what they knew of the near-unrelenting bullying Luna was suffering from; the ongoing thefts of her personal effects, the verbal taunting, the deliberate destruction of her assignments and other school work, etcetera.

Then, in the letter, Sirius wrote it was to stop - immediately - or he would personally challenge the little Duelling Master to a public duel.

What really set a fire under Flitwick's bum to immediately do something about the bullying was the line in the letter from Sirius regarding the duel which stated: _'It will, of course, not be an honour duel; because anyone who would willingly allow a child under their direct care to be constantly bullied_ _has no honour_ _.'_

And Flitwick did not wait until the students returned on the First of September to address the issue, either. For the magical-raised, he was on the floo and visiting students and their parents in their homes that very day. For the muggle-raised he went to their homes by apparation. It took him a few days, but he got it done.

His final visit was to the Rookery, Luna's home she shared with her father, to speak with her and her father about it.

Before he even asked her if it was going on - he didn't need to as he now knew it definitely was - he was offering his personal apologies to both her and her father for the way in which she'd been treated over her past four years.

"This _stops_ immediately, Miss Lovegood," he firmly stated. "Even if it is, as you believe, the Nargles who are responsible you are to inform me immediately if it happens again. I believe that I will definitely be able to do something about it.

"However, I have already visited and spoken with a number of your fellow Ravenclaw students and they will now also be helping you and protecting you while at the school."

Luna, with tears of relief in her eyes, could only nod back and utter a very quiet, "Thank you."

Though not asked to, Flitwick had sent a letter back to Sirius informing him of what he had done and what would now be happening.

Sirius's response, less the headers and footers, was a short note of effectively only four words, ' _It's about bloody time!_ '

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once August rolled around, Ron's mother was now on his back to get his homework completed.

"Get it done or I'll let your father know you've not even started it," his mother declared. "You're already on probation within this family and you don't want to give your father any further excuse to kick you out of it."

As it had been over a month since his 'whipping' at the hands of his father, the memory of how much pain that had caused him had dulled. However, the memories of how he couldn't even sit for days afterwards had _not_ faded.

Moping about it, he made his way up to his room.

However, instead of immediately setting-to and starting on his homework, he wrote a quick letter to Hermione to come visit ' _so we can remember Harry together. And, Mum's okay with you coming and staying until we go back to Hogwarts. Isn't that great? It means you can get away from the muggles!'_

Happy he'd not let on he really only wanted her to visit so she could help him with his homework - that is, actually do his homework _for_ him - he took his letter over to Pigwidgeon.

After attaching it to the owl's leg he carried it over to his open window and said, "To Hermione Granger in London, Pig." Then he lofted the little 'featherball' out his window and away.

However, as he was about to close his window he noticed Pigwidgeon seemed to be flying about all over the place.

Frowning at it, he muttered, "Stupid bird."

As he then pulled out his books, assignment notes and clean stationery so they'd be on the desk and look like he actually was doing his homework if anyone walked in, he also pulled out a Quidditch magazine. He'd 'found' it in the Gryffindor commonroom the day they boarded the train to leave the school and had immediately stuffed it into a pocket of his robes as something to read over the break.

It must have been less than a minute later when he heard his Mum screech out, " _RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!_ "

So surprised he almost fell out of the chair he had rocked back on while reading, he quickly scampered down to the kitchen and to his mother. That voice she'd used was the one that promised significant pain if it wasn't immediately attended to.

As he rushed into the kitchen his mother was glaring at him.

"Mum?" he warily asked.

Holding her off-hand aloft, Ron could see she was holding a crumpled letter in her hand.

"Explain to me, Ronald, why it is you think young Hermione needs to get away from the muggles? _And_ , just _when_ did I give my permission for her to visit here this year?"

Ron winced.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Dumbledore had just received a floo call from Molly that two owls they'd attempted to send to Miss Granger, both Pigwidgeon and old Errol, had failed to deliver and asked that he go and make sure she was 'alright'.

He was not informed, however, that Ronald had taken it upon himself to invite the girl to the Burrow; only that they'd tried to contact her.

Knowing that, as a member of the so-called Ministry Six she was now considered an 'important person' to Magical Britain, instead of informing Bones and having aurors check it out he decided to go himself.

After a quick check of his private address book, he transfigured his robes into 'appropriate' dress and apparated to the laneway near the house for which he already had the apparation co-ordinates. After a quick twist, squeeze and pop, he was there.

Following a quick look about to ensure he wasn't seen apparating in, Dumbledore gave a firm nod, slipped his wand into his belt and headed for the end of the laneway and into the street on which the Granger girl lived with her parents.

Five minutes later and he was standing outside the property, looking in shock at the large 'For Sale' sign sitting in the middle of the lawn and facing the street.

He hurried onto the property and quickly made his way to the front door. He knocked.

When there was no answer after fifteen seconds he looked about once more to see if he was being observed before he moved over to the nearest window with its curtains slightly apart.

A look inside told the story. Beyond the window was the sitting room; it was empty of all furniture.

He returned to the door, a quick Unlocking Charm and, "Alohomora," he was inside the house.

A few moments later he could see it wasn't just the sitting room that was empty, it was the entire house. The house was, as the sign proclaimed, vacant.

He apparated directly from the floor in the top hallway back to his office, wondering what to do next.

He decided to summon Minerva to his office to speak about it. As Miss Granger's Head of House he hoped she had some idea of what was going on with the Grangers. He sent her a message via Fawkes.

As soon as she arrived he immediately asked, "Minerva? Do you have any idea where Miss Granger has gone?"

"No, Albus," she returned.

That she did not seem surprised, he stared at her for a moment before he said, "You know _something_ , though."

"Oh?" she asked.

With a barely concealed huff he explained, "You did not seem surprised when I asked you where Miss Granger was."

"That is because Miss Granger is no longer our concern," she returned.

Surprised, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Like quite a few others she has withdrawn as a student of Hogwarts, Albus," said McGonagall. "As such, she is no longer our concern."

Angry at both how his Deputy was continuing to behave towards him with poorly concealed disgust and a succinct lack of respect, he demanded, "Why was I not informed?"

"You _were_ ," she flatly replied. "I told you I have already received over two dozen withdrawals, so far, this break. When I asked if you wanted them listed for you, you brushed me off as if it was unimportant.

"As such, it is _your_ fault you did not know the girl had withdrawn."

"She _has_ to attend!" he glared.

"No, she does not," she snapped back. "She has successfully completed her OWLs and, as such, her parents were fully within their rights to withdraw her from Hogwarts with no penalty. That is what they did."

That annoyed him as, legally, she was correct. "Did they inform you to where they were moving?" he demanded.

Somewhat surprised he'd asked, she replied, "No. Then again, they were under no obligation to do so. And I had _no right_ to ask."

That last was a verbal slap at the old man and they both knew it.

" _Ahhh...!_ " he growled. "Thank you, Minerva. You may go."

"Thank you, ever so much, Headmaster," she snarked back, before then spinning on her heels and stalking from the room.

Realising he was still dressed in his version of muggle wear, Dumbledore rose, cancelled the transfiguration and apparated to the Ministry. He was headed for the WEA to see if they had a new address for the girl.

He was annoyed to find that he was no longer receiving the fawning adoration he was used to. And the WEA, after first flat-out telling him he had no right to the information - to which he'd returned he needed it as Headmaster - finally informed him they had no forwarding address for the girl. (And, as she was a muggle-born, none of the staff could care any less they didn't.)

Foiled in his search, he headed down to the DMLE to report her as a missing child.

However, that didn't work when the Master Auror, who was reluctantly willing to hear his complaint, told him they 'would accept that under advisement. However, as he was not the lawful guardian of the girl, he had no right to any information relating to her'.

He needed the girl to be his unwitting spy on young Neville, as she was on young Harry, once the young man was made aware of his destiny; but she'd disappeared.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It wasn't until the next day, when Molly floo-called him again to inquire about the girl's safety, when Dumbledore finally admitted to her that the girl had withdrawn from Hogwarts at her parents' behest and the family had moved homes. He'd completely forgotten that it was her contacting him that sent him to go and speak with the girl.

And, no, he did not know where they had gone; but suspected it was somewhere overseas. That was why the owls couldn't locate her.

When Ron found out, he panicked. And, in his panic, blurted how he wouldn't be able to, "... Complete my homework if Hermione doesn't do it _for_ me!"

That earned him another bum-paddling and him then finding himself restricted to his room and the bathroom at all times, other than meals, until said homework was completed _and checked over_ by either of his parents. He'd even had his magazines, chess set and other, non-school, texts removed from his room for the duration.

He also had to give a report before each dinner time to his father about what he had completed and what he was currently working on, in detail, before he was allowed to eat. And "Yeah, it's going good," and similar non-answers where flatly rejected. He had to give specifics.

When he did that the first night, concerning his 'History of Magic assignment' his father immediately sent him to his room to bring down what he'd told him he'd done, so that he could check it over.

His immediate blush in embarrassment, showing he'd lied, had him missing dinner as he waited out in the woodshed while the rest of the family ate. Then he received another bum-paddling from his father. Then he was sent to his bedroom _without_ his dinner.

He didn't try that again. As far as he was concerned the bum-flogging was one thing, being forced to _starve_ by missing dinner was beyond the pale.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In her home only a short walk away from the Burrow, Luna Lovegood looked up and stared into space for a moment before she smiled and pulled yet another small slip of parchment towards herself.

She had yet another entry to stick into the first scrapbook she was working on. She knew she had quite a few to do after finishing this one, but it was both something she was happy to do and necessary for when Harry returned.

She knew so much had changed and was yet to change that he would be 'floundering' on his return without them.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry had been in his new home built in a grove of what could loosely be called 'trees' many hundreds of miles to the 'north' of the Chappa'ai on his planet; a planet he named 'Hadrian' simply because he liked the name and 'Harry's World' just sounded too much like a theme park. He thought it sounded more posh than his own and he had to call it _something_.

His new home was built as far away as it was because he found the land around the Chappa'ai to be far too hot, especially in the weird summer season the planet had; and it gave him some distance from the ring, so he wouldn't be surprised by visitors again.

He'd been on the planet for about eighteen months, he thought, when he saw these weirdly dressed folks come through the ring and, when he first approached them, they barked at him in a strange language. Almost immediately he recognised they were threatening him; with one bloke, who seemed to be their leader, look at him with white glowing eyes and speak in an echoing voice. Echoing voice or not he sounded and sneered so much like Draco Malfoy Harry snickered back in amusement.

That had one of the 'soldiers', as that was what they had to be considering the way they were dressed, point his staff at him.

When Harry saw the tip of the staff and back about two feet peel open and glow a bit, he apparated out of the circle of soldiers he was in and to the top of a nearby hill. It was the same hill he sat upon on the first night he was there and transfigured his goblet and filled it with water.

It was lucky he managed to get out when he did because, suddenly looking down at the ring of soldiers in which he stood, he was just in time to see what looked like a Blasting Hex jump from the tip of the staff and power right through where he stood. The two soldiers on the opposite side of the ring nearly got hit as the bolt of dark orange energy sizzled between them, travel a good sixty feet and impact the side of the ravine opposite where he now stood.

" _Bastards!_ " he muttered. 'They're just like _Death Eaters_."

The one with the glowing eyes spotted him first, barked some sort of commands to the soldiers while indicating him and they, minus 'glowy eyes', then charged up the hill towards him.

They attacked him first, so...

Harry drew his wand and began rapid-firing stunners back down the slope.

He was surprised when they didn't even seem to throw up shields. Instead they kept jumping out of the way, while still continuing to hare up the hill. Every now and then one of them would stop, aim his staff at him and cast another very quick moving Blasting Hex towards him.

"Uh- _huh_!" he muttered, after shielding one that came a bit too close. Gathering his magic, he whipped his wand down and cast a powerful Blasting Curse right back.

This time the hex sizzled through the air before it impacted one of them and... blew him up. All that was left after the curse hit was a pair of legs and feet from the knees down.

That had everyone stop. Harry stopped and stared in horror at what he'd done, while the soldiers looked in shock at evidence of just how powerful the hand-held beam weapon the boy was using actually was.

Harry had quickly apparated across to the opposite hill, then spun about and threw up his last meal over the ground.

By the time he recovered and turned back, the soldiers had run back down the opposite slope, crossed the floor of the ravine and were then running up the slope of the second hill.

"Naff this!" he muttered.

Raising his wand again, he began casting as fast as he could. Stunners, Blasting Hexes, Tripping hexes, Disarming charms - he got three of them with that last one, causing their staff weapons to fly out of their hands and away – and whatever else he could think of.

Of the three bolts of energy sent back at him that came close, he shielded the first but wand-swatted the other two away. He hadn't even realised he'd done that.

Then he started walking back down the hill towards them. And they, after a quick checking-over of two of their companions who were down, were slowly backing back down while keeping a wary eye on him.

What Harry hadn't seen was the other one, the one with the glowy eyes was doing. He'd apparently, calm as calm could be, had walked over to the lectern thing and began to push buttons.

It was the sound of that rushing, bubbling water the ring made that had him glance over to it.

'Glowy Eyes' then barked something at the soldiers and they quickly turned tail and ran to him; leaving their friends behind.

That was the first time Harry had 'bumped into' the Goa'uld and Jaffa. It certainly wasn't the last.

It was only a day later they were back. This time there were a great deal more of them.

It then took him what felt like the better part of a year to drive them back off the planet again.

He'd taken to using his invisibility cloak he'd had on him in his mokeskin pouch, guerilla tactics, a whole lot of killing and using magic he had no idea he could possibly do until he tried it and it would work. He knew he'd managed to kill many hundreds by the time they left. And he _had_ to kill them. Stunning only meant they'd come back at him again later. Even when he severely injured them, sooner or later they'd be back.

It wasn't until he managed to capture 'Glowy Eyes' by apparating into the man's tent, stunning him and taking him away again that they first stopped. He then managed to Imperius the man and have him order his troops to leave.

However, they were only gone for about a month before they returned.

This time he really let loose on them. He knew 'Glowy Eyes' was their supposed god. So he again captured him, took him back to his 'Safe Haven' far to the north and stripped him of all his magical items. Then, just like the previous time, he tied him to a metal chair before he revived him.

As 'Glowy Eyes' - Imhotep, the Goa'uld System Lord - railed at him with what harm would supposedly befall him, Harry then tried his own version of Legilimency on the... being. Taking a leaf out of Snape's play-book, he mind raped him so effectively he left the man no more thinking than a vegetable by the time he was finished. Instead of just 'breezing' through the man's thoughts and memories, he _ripped_ them out and dropped them into his own mind.

From that he knew the Goa'uld, as he now knew him to be, would never stop throwing his slaves/soldiers at him until either Harry or he was dead. And he didn't fear death, as his minions would put his body in a sarcophagus and revive him again. Then he'd come right back again.

Knowing the only way to get the attacks to stop was to utterly destroy the body before him so it couldn't be revived by Sarcophagus, he side-along apparated with him right into the middle of the main Jaffa camp. He then dumped him in the middle of their camp out front of the Chappa'ai, as he now knew it to be called, then this time he burned the man to death right in front of his troops.

As the man died, Harry returned to the camp with a great flash of light, vanished the body and said, "Leave!" and pointed to the gate. "Leave, or die!" Then he cast exploding fireballs into the tents and apparated out.

He then sat on a hill under his invisibility cloak and watched their camp burn to ash as the Jaffa bolted for the now already activated Gate and ran through it.

They never returned.

However, in their barely controlled panic to leave they left a lot of things behind. Things he could use and _was_ using until that robot thing showed up six months later; or what he thought was six _Earth_ months.

In that six months he'd organised a whole lot of protections on both himself and his 'stuff'. He'd even cast an alert charm on the Chappa'ai that, if it activated, he'd immediately be alerted to it. It was his alert going off that drew him from his 'Safe Haven' home far to the north of the ring to see if it was more of those Jaffa blokes again. He'd apparated directly there and while under a Notice-me-Not charm.

He was shocked to see it was a robot tractor thing. And further surprised to see English written on the side of it. The writings he'd seen of what was written by the Jaffa and the Goa'uld looked more like a cross between hieroglyphics and Japanese pictographs to him than anything resembling English.

He'd hope that, whoever it was, understood his 'come here' gesture to the camera they'd aimed at him. It had taken him _weeks_ to clean up his planet of all the rubbish the Jaffa had left behind and he didn't want to go through all that again. Two of those was his stripping and burying all the bodies they'd left behind before they rotted and stunk the place up. He knew he could have vanished them, but felt that was the wrong thing to do. They were slaves, not evil. He gave them a proper burial, if not funeral.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In a military establishment deep under the Cheyenne Mountains in Colorado and not far from the small city of Colorado Springs, resided a couple of military installations. The most famous of which was the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) situated below the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). However, even deeper than those, resided a small complex that put even the Top Secret levels of NORAD and USNORTHCOM to shame; it was known as Stargate Command (SGC). Even knowing it existed required a Top Secret clearance security level.

Three and a half years earlier, a small team of brave military personnel and experts in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and society, ventured through what became known as the Stargate; an ancient device dug up from the desert not far from the city of Cairo, the capital of Egypt, in Giza.

After the first foray through the gate, where more than half the team were killed on a planet a fair way across the galaxy, the gate had been secured with certain safeguards. Those first explorers through the gate came back with proof that other planets were both populated with humans and with enemies it was not wise to allow anywhere near Earth.

A year later, July 1997, they were ready to once more explore through the gate.

While it took a year to put in place safeguards against others 'unwelcomingly' coming through the gate, the personnel were not letting the grass grow under their feet. They were training hard to be ready for when next the gate was activated.

Then, for the next two and a quarter years, they had become both very good at it and the teams were slimmed down. Their lead team, known as SG-1, now had four permanent members. They were Colonel Jack O'Neill; Major Samantha Carter; the archaeologist, Doctor Daniel Jackson (who, like Colonel O'Neill, was also a part of that first mission to the planet Abydos); and the 'First Prime' Jaffa (a genetically modified human warrior race who served possessed humans who called themselves gods) Teal'c, who'd renounced his 'false God', Apophis, to help the team escape when they were captured by the Jaffa very soon after gate travels were again activated.

That brought them to now, very late October 1999. As a matter of fact, it was Hallowe'en. They had not long returned from a moon called Ne'tu, in orbit around the planet of Delmac, where they had rescued one of their Tok'ra allies, Selmak. Only just beginning to wind down from that mission, SG-1 were called back to the complex meeting room for a new briefing only partway through their stand-down time.

As they walked in their commanding officer, General George Hammond, was already standing at the always-there star map, waiting. O'Neill, always quick with a witty remark, asked, "Miss us already, General? I thought we were on stand-down."

"You _were_ ," replied Hammond. "I hope you enjoyed your two days off and made merry. It's time to get back to work."

As the four members of SG-1 found seats at the oval table, all with a clear view of the general and where he stood before the large star map, Hammond waited for them to take their seats and slid a stack of four dark blue manilla files down the polished wood of the table. "There's your briefing notes," he declared, as each member of the team quickly snagged a copy for themselves.

Not even waiting for them to read them he said, "We received a quick message from the Tok'ra," he said.

"They want us to kill another System Lord?" snarked O'Neill. He was referencing how, during the rescue of Selmak, they had managed to kill the Goa'uld System Lord Sokar and, possibly, Apophis.

Hammond ignored it. "They've received intelligence that a... _demon_ , they call it... has taken up residence on a planet. As you people were on stand-down, we sent through a MALP just to take a look at what was there."

Looking to the flat screen television mounted on the wall opposite, he raised a remote and clicked a button while pointing at it. "This is what we picked up."

It started an obviously recorded video feed from the MALP.

Within seconds of the MALP obviously reaching the other end of the wormhole and exiting the water effect of the event horizon, the MALP immediately began to transmit video feed.

The camera quickly scanned around, showing that the DHD dialing device was present and that the terrain was similar to that of the Colorado desert not far from their base; and not too dissimilar to the Baja Desert in Northern Mexico.

O'Neill piped up and said, "Looks like Arizona."

"I thought the Baja des― _Holy crap_!" exclaimed Doctor Jackson

The reason for the sudden exclamation was the sudden appearance on screen of a young human man. He seemed to appear as if from nowhere.

The camera of the MALP immediately focused on him as the clearly human Caucasian male looked back with an expression of curiosity on his face.

What was surprising was the way the young man was dressed. From the ground up he was wearing Jaffa boots and greaves, then tunic pants and under robe - the last two being the undergarments under Jaffa armour - Jaffa bracers on his wrists, then he wore a wide-brimmed raggedy hat with a floppy point that looked like a reject prop from a Lord of the Rings movie. He was also carrying a staff weapon in the ready position to shoot.

"Who does he think he _is_ with a staff, robes and hat like that?" asked O'Neill. " _Gandalf!?_ "

Jackson gave a snort of amusement. No one else even reacted. They were far too used to the Colonel's wry humour. Even Teal'c barely cocked an eyebrow at it, these days.

As they watched, the young man relaxed from his ready-to-shoot stance, switched hands with the weapon to his left and drew what looked like a thin stick of wood from under his left wrist bracer and began to hold it as if he wielded it like a weapon.

He then raised the stick and, making a couple of gestures with it, looked as if he was going to jab someone with it. At the same time the electronics on the MALP seemed to surge with static for a moment. The static faded away as the young man lowered his stick.

"Radiation?" asked Carter. "I thought the MALPs were shielded."

Clearly curious at what he was seeing, the man then carefully walked forward until he was close enough to better see. Then he bent down and was peering at something on the side of the MALP.

The five in the conference/briefing room then watched his lips move and frown even more.

That had Major Carter give a gasp of surprise. "He read what was written on the side of the MALP!"

"Yeah; so?" asked O'Neill.

Instead of responding, Carter glanced to the General and said, "Sir, please rewind to the part where he begins to bend forward."

Not even saying a word, Hammond did precisely that.

"Now, play, please," urged Carter.

As all five watched, Carter kept pace with the man on the screen and said, "Mobile Analytic Laboratory Probe." Her words matched perfectly with the young man's lips.

"That shouldn't be possible," said Jackson, leaning forward to better see. "No other planet we've so far visited have a peoples who could read English. Hieroglyphs, runes, even ancient Chinese, yes; but not English, not even Latinised Greek characters."

As they continued to watch the young man, they saw as he grinned directly into the camera seeming quite happy to see it. Then he jogged backwards about fifteen feet, making sure to stay before the camera field of view, slipped the stick back up under the bracer, raised his right hand until it was palm up and before him with a fist, knuckles pointing directly towards the camera, and proceeded to signal to the camera with the universal 'Come here' index finger repetitive curl and flex.

Then he grinned again, hefted the staff weapon up in one hand, balancing the weight perfectly with such ease if was obvious he had a lot of experience with it, then he ran towards the MALP before ducking off to one side.

The camera was immediately spun to see where he went but could pick nothing up.

"What the... _Hell_?" exclaimed O'Neill.

" _That_ should not be possible, either," added a surprised Carter.

The General, turning the video off, had the team of four return to face him. Once he had their attention again he said, "When we recovered the MALP we found the camera was working perfectly across all bands of light, both into the ultraviolet and infrared ranges. Whatever cloaking technology he's using, we couldn't pick him up."

"Well," said O'Neill, "He doesn't look like a demon to me. How is this so important a matter a team like SG-3 can't attend to it, Sir?"

Hammond smiled and returned, "It's the location of the planet that's the most concerning. It's C1S-204."

"C1―" stuttered Carter, suddenly sitting upright and looking more closely to her briefing notes. " _Sirius?!_ " she exclaimed.

" _Wow_! Way to _snark_ the General, Carter!" exclaimed O'Neill. "I think the General's being _quite_ serious."

"No; _Si-ri-US_ ," said Carter, not even looking up as she read through the briefing notes. "The binary star Sirius, S-I-R-I-U-S, also known as the Dog Star, brightest star in the night sky, of the constellation Canis Major. Straight line, a little over eight and a half light years away. Astronomically, our second-most closest neighbour after Alpha Centauri; practically in our celestial _backyard_!"

"Precisely," said Hammond. "As it's so close and... as Major Carter pointed out... in our celestial backyard, I need my best team on this right away.

"Your mission is to go to planet C1S-204, find out who this individual is, question him, scout around to see if there are any others... especially Jaffa... and, if necessary, bring him back here."

"What if he's alone, as the Tok'ra believe him to be," asked Jackson, looking up from his own briefing notes.

"Then we just talk to him," said O'Neill. "If he can read English, I want to know how and why."

When talking stopped for a few moments, Hammond said, "Well? What are you still doing here? Go suit up!"

That had all four moving.

As they walked out the door, Jackson asked, "Colour?"

"Desert!" O'Neill called back from in the lead.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In a cylindrical house on the top of a hill near the town of Ottery St Catchpole, standing four floors up and one down and giving the appearance of a giant black rook out of a chess set with windows, a young lady of eighteen sat at a worktable in her bedroom on the fourth floor. It was Luna Lovegood at the Rookery.

She was currently going through, yet again, her set of scrapbooks she'd been working on whenever she had the time. Inside she'd carefully stuck in specific articles out of the _Daily Prophet_ , wizarding Britain's only daily newsparchment, articles out of her father's semi-regular monthly newsparchment, the _Quibbler_ , articles from overseas newsparchments, and other information she'd hand-written herself all related to information she was collecting. It was information she began collecting back in June 1996 very soon after Harry disappeared through the Veil of Death; also known as the Astra Porta, the Chappa'ai and the Stargate.

Suddenly she looked up and focused on something only she could see. As she sat there for a few minutes her expression slowly turned from one of focused intensity to one where she was relaxed and smiling.

"Not quite yet," she murmured. "But soon, Harry Potter. Welcome home."

She had work to do and time was running out.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After assembling in the gate room fully 'kitted and booted', as they say in the military, the four waited as the gate was dialed by computer for them. It wasn't as fast as using one of the Dial Home Devices (DHDs), but it still worked.

Once the seventh chevron locked in and lit up, the gate activated.

A moment later, the gate on 'Hadrian' also activated.

Harry, who was already back at his home to the north, _Safe Haven_ , felt the alert on the Chappa'ai trigger.

As a slow smile spread over his face, he packed up what he wanted to take with him into either his moke-skin pouch at his hip or a quickly transfigured backpack, donned it, donned his 'Sorting Hat' lookalike hat and apparated to a spot that was under a hiding charm behind the gate.

Using his version of a Notice-me-Not, he quietly walked around the Chappa'ai to ensure for himself who was there. After all, it could have easily been more of those Jaffa blokes.

Instead, he saw four people. They were all dressed in what he thought was US Army uniforms. With the exception of the big black dude who was also carrying a blaster staff, the other three were carrying really short looking sub-machine guns, ready to shoot. Not wanting to get shot, he watched them and carefully listened as they talked to one another and scanned the area with their eyes.

The older white man with hair beginning to grey, demanded, "Anyone see anything?"

'English!' Harry happily thought. 'American accents, too!'

"Nothing yet, Sir," replied the blonde haired and only woman of the four.

"Me neither, Jack!" declared the brown hair stocky guy with glasses.

"I do not see him, but I believe him to be close, Colonel O'Neill," said the black guy.

As the black guy, though he was wearing the same desert uniform as the three others turned towards Harry's direction, Harry saw a similar symbol as those Jaffa he'd fought had on _their_ foreheads. However, his was in gold.

'First Prime,' he thought. He'd already encountered Imhotep's First Prime on a few occasions. Killed the first one, too.

Harry knew this was the leader of the Jaffa. At least, the one who had his forehead tattoo in gold was the leader of the ones who invaded his planet. He captured him first and used his version of Legilimency to get the information he wanted. The trouble was, it also killed the man when he'd done it. However, while it was distasteful, he was already well past the feeling of revulsion and horror that he first suffered from by killing a man when he'd captured him.

He'd needed that information and, though he managed to pick up some of the language they used, couldn't communicate with it or understand what one of them said when they said something to him.

When he'd also used it on 'Glowy Eyes' he found out he was actually possessed, though didn't understand how. He also knew the man to be thousands of years old, so he'd had a good life. He'd considered himself a god and the Jaffa were his personal army and slaves. If there could be anyone considered more evil than Voldemort, it was that bloke. That was why he no problem killing him by burning him alive in his camp and then vanishing the ashes. It sent a message to his slaves and to any others like him who tried to take his planet from him.

However, this Jaffa send to be - surprise, surprise - a _friendly_ Jaffa. At least he was likely to be, considering he was working with these Americans.

He then listened closely to them talking as they seemed to be waiting to see if he turned up.

He heard the older man called 'Jack' by the younger man, 'Sir' by the woman and 'Colonel O'Neill' more formally by the Jaffa. He heard the younger man called 'Daniel' by both the older man and the woman, while the Jaffa called him 'Doctor Jackson'. He also heard the woman called 'Sam' by both the older and younger men and 'Major Carter' by the Jaffa. And, finally, the other three all called the Jaffa 'Teal'c'.

That now meant he had their full names, less any middle names, as 'Colonel Jack O'Neill', 'Doctor Daniel Jackson', 'Major Sam (likely short for 'Samantha') Carter' and the Jaffa, of course, as simply 'Teal'c'. Jaffa... slave soldiers... didn't have last names.

After watching them for a while, Harry made his decision to 'greet' them. He carefully placed his staff weapon on the ground at his feet and carefully allowed the Notice-me-Not to fade away.

As soon as he did and before they saw him, he slipped the wand into his hidden holster on his forearm under the bracer on his left arm.

Of course, the big black Jaffa spotted him first and whirled on him with his staff weapon. However, Harry immediately saw it wasn't 'activated' as the tip was still closed and not 'sparking'. He tensed, but otherwise didn't react.

"Colonel O'Neill!" Teal'c sharply called.

That had the other three whirl about, bringing their own weapons to bear. Thankfully, none of them shot. That spoke of training.

"Damn!" said O'Neill, looking at him in surprise. "How do you _do_ that?"

"Do what?" asked Harry.

"Turn invisible!" said O'Neill.

Harry just grinned back and said, "Trade Secret."

As Harry eyed the other four and they eyed him back it was a few moments before O'Neill asked. "So, you sound... English?"

"That would be because I am," Harry replied.

"A bit far from home, aren't you?" asked O'Neill.

"Wouldn't know," replied Harry. "All I know is this is a different planet. I have no idea _where_ it is, or how far it is from Earth."

"8.6 light years," explained Carter. "It's in the Canis Major system." Indicating the sun - or the main one, at least - she continued, "That's the star Sirius A." Then indicated the very bright star he could always see during the day. "And that's Sirius B."

"Sirius?" he perked up. Then covered himself by asking, "Isn't that what we call the Dogstar? Supposedly the brightest star in the night sky? After our own sun, of course.

"Well, brightest star on Earth, at any rate," he muttered. "Of course... here... as it's the planet's sun, it's even brighter."

"Yep," she beamed back as first she and then the other three lowered their weapons. "I doubt you'd know that if you weren't from Earth."

" _How_ did you get here, anyway?" asked Jackson.

Harry frowned, shrugged and replied, "I was in London. Next thing I know there was this bright flash of light. Next thing I know after that... I wake up here."

"What was the date?" asked Jackson.

"Ummm..." Harry thought. "Let's see... I'd just finished one of my exams that day. It was three days before the train... eighteenth of June, 1996!"

"Errr..." said Jackson. "How long do you think you've been here?"

"No idea," he returned. "As far as I know and can figure out, I estimate it's been about two years; probably closer to two and half."

After the three non-Jaffa all glanced to one another for a moment he asked, "Oh-kaaay... What gives? How long has it really been?"

"A little over three years," replied a clearly sympathetic Carter. "Back on Earth, it's currently the thirty-first of October, 1999; Hallowe'en."

"It's Hallowe'en, three years later!?" Harry exclaimed, before he startled to chuckle, laugh and cry almost all at the same time. SG-1 just watched and let him get it out of his system.

"It's _always_ Hallowe'en," he sighed, coming down off his stress relief laugh/cry. "That day just _hates_ me."

"We'll take your word for it," said O'Neill. "That aside, how'd you like to go home?"

"What?" asked Harry. "Back to Earth?"

"Yes..." replied Jack before he realised he didn't know what the young man's name was. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Harry," replied Harry.

"Got a last name?" pressed O'Neill.

"Yup," he grinned.

When he didn't expand, Jackson gave a snort of amusement. O'Neill looked confused.

"It's Potter," said Harry, having had his fun. "Harry Potter."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	4. Thank You and See-Ya

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** As my regular follows know, I don't often do this, but... what the hey. I've managed to read _some _of the reviews - a rare feat, indeed - and will address some of the general topics._  
 _1) Yes, this is a crossover, but it won't be a major crossover. SG-1 is just a vehicle to get Harry back on Earth and will soon 'bow out'. You will see what I mean when we get there. There's another crossover coming into it to aid that bowing out. Virtual cookies to those who near-instantly figure out who Sir John is when you 'meet' him._  
 _2) Posting schedule will be Saturday/Sundays and Wednesdays; and when I have time around then to post. 24 chapters (210k words) = 12 weeks to post._  
 _3) For those who whine about it; yes, I post approximate 10k word chapters. Deal with it. I'm comfortable with it, so... neener neener nyah nyah! :)_  
 _4) Why did I pick Luna as Harry's partner? The same reason I've written a cross-over; I've not done it before. It's as simple as that.  
5) And... yes... Hermione is gone, just not as gone as you might yet think.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter Four - Thank You and See-ya!**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After Harry was divested of his Goa'uld technology, backpack and anything else that could be considered a weapon - or so SG-1 thought - Jackson redialed the Gate for the return to Earth. Harry took careful note of which six buttons, what he now knew represented constellations, the bespectacled man pressed. The final one, the inverted 'V' with a small circle on top, meant he now knew which constellation represented Earth.

What the four SG-1 members did not know was that Harry had long ago, soon after he first began to get attacked by the Jaffa with their Goa'uld master, had put hiding charms on both his wand holster and his mokeskin pouch Hagrid had given him. The mokeskin pouch contained his invisibility cloak and a few other items he didn't want to risk losing. That was attached by way of a belt made of a thick leather tied directly to the skin around his waist; made from the hide of one of the lizard rats that formed his near-sole meat diet during his early days on the planet.

He wanted to argue the loss of his two hand devices, one for his left and one for his right, he'd 'souvenired' off the Goa'uld host as they weren't actually weapons. However, 'Call me Jack' insisted. He was not, of course, worried about them taking his staff weapon; as that was obviously a weapon.

Then taken through the gate - Jack and Teal'c leading, then him, then Sam and Daniel - he came out into a room clearly inside a military installation and onto a metal grid and railed ramp leading down to the floor.

He spotted a team of about half a dozen fully armed and armoured soldiers pointing weapons at him in a 'ready-to-shoot' wide formation; three to four each side and well spaced apart. He heard someone call something over a loud speaker and looked up to see a quite wide glass window, behind which looked like a control room of some form. There were soldiers... no, air force personnel... looking out of it and to him.

The speaker crackled again as Sam, then Daniel, stepped out of the event horizon of the Stargate and it shut off. "Welcome back, SG-1! And welcome to our guest!" the speaker announced. "Everyone stand down."

As the soldiers before him all relaxed and withdrew, he saw it was the overweight balding older man he could see through the glass of the window who had spoken into a microphone on a 'bendy-stick'.

"As you can see, General," called Jack to the window. "We've brought back our guest."

"As per protocol, take him to the Infirmary," ordered the General.

Harry groaned. "Yup; it's Hallowe'en."

When Sam looked to him in slight confusion, he explained, "I _always_ end up in the Infirmary on Hallowe'en."

She and the other two non-Jaffa of SG-1 all grinned while Teal'c, yet again, just cocked an eyebrow at him. However and up closer, Harry could now see the well-hidden mirth behind his eyes.

With an open hand gesture indicating the huge sliding metal door on the left-hand side wall that appeared to be the only way out of the room, Sam said, "This way, Mister Potter."

"Yes, Ma'am," he sighed, beginning to walk further down the ramp. "And, it's Harry."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

" _Luna Bug!_ " called one Xenophilius Lovegood up the stairs from the sitting room of the Lovegood home. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to come with me to Norway to hunt for Snorkacks?"

Up in her room, where she was checking through her half dozen scrapbooks, Luna called back, "Yes, Daddy! It's important I be here for the next couple of months!"

"Alright, then!" he called back. "I'll just go and organise an international portkey for _one_ then?"

"Yes, Daddy!" she called back. "You do that!"

"Expect me back just before Yule!" he called.

"Yes, Daddy!" she immediately called back.

She carefully listened and heard the whoosh of the floo activating and her father cry, "Diagon Alley!"

With a satisfied nod she returned to her work.

Luna was now eighteen years old and had graduated from Hogwarts a little over a year earlier with NEWTs in Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Enchanting, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. She graduated top of her year with Outstandings in every subject.

Back from when she was part of the Ministry Six, when she was a young fifteen year old teenage girl, she had since grown up and filled out. She now moved with an athletic grace, while still maintaining a willowy figure. Her grace was because Lord Black, Sirius, had been training her in combat magics.

On graduating, and even just before, she was sought after by the Ministry and Gringotts to come and work for them once she completed her education. However, she turned them all down; because, on the sly, she was working for Lord Black. Through the use of her knowledge in Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Charms and -secretly - Enchanting, she was designing wards; all while also secretly undertaking a mastery in the subjects of Warding and Enchanting paid for by Sirius.

She knew she would very soon have to take a sabbatical from those.

Dumbledore had approached her almost as soon as Hogwarts started for the 1996/97 year with how he 'thought it might be nice' if she developed a friendship with Neville Longbottom. She liked Neville; however, her Seer ability had already alerted her to how Dumbledore was trying to mould him to replace Harry in facing Voldemort. And she wanted no part of that.

She turned him down.

When he pushed, she turned him down _flat_. Then asked him, "What makes you think Neville makes a suitable replacement for Harry? Furthermore, what makes you think I'll willingly be a replacement for Hermione?"

He backed right off then, worried about how accurate she was in developing an understanding of his plans, but still tried his 'I'm _so_ disappointed with you' shtick

Luna simply smirked at him and said, "I will not be a party to your Machiavellian shenanigans, Headmaster. If you attempt to push it, I will go and speak with Director Scrimgeour about my concern that an old man... you... is trying to manipulate me for... _nefarious purposes_."

That shocked Dumbledore so much, he stuttered, "I would _never_..."

"Maybe not," she replied. "However, _that_ is what I will tell Mister Scrimgeour if you do not leave me alone. It will, after all, be the truth."

He left her completely alone after that until after she turned seventeen and graduated.

Within the first week afterwards, he tried to force-visit her at the Rookery. However, he couldn't get through the wards; even with Fawkes. He'd found himself harshly 'bounced' into the Weasleys' pond.

Working with Sirius and using her Seer ability she'd created a set of war wards that, after that first attempt, would have fried the old man if he'd tried again. And had immediately sent him a messenger Patronus rabbit while he floundered in the pond, telling him that.

Instead, he was left with having to floo-call her and trying to intimidate her into letting him through. He failed.

That left him with trying to talk to her via an Order member's established 'friendship' connection.

"I believe you would make a wonderful asset for my organisation, Miss Lovegood," he said. "I urge you to reconsider. If you do, you will be working hard _for the light_."

"Actually, I'd be a _pawn_ for you, Albus," she retorted. "That does not interest me. Neither do I have an interest in being a prison guard for Neville Longbottom, or supping from the unholy font of Albus Dumbledore."

He scowled back and said, "Be careful, Miss Lovegood. You're going... _dark_."

"Be careful, Albus," she shot back. "You're showing yourself to be... _an idiot_."

He scowled even harder and silently withdrew. He never tried to personally contact her again. However, he did convince others to contact her and try. They all failed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At the SGC, Harry had been shown into the infirmary and the short middle-aged muggle doctor, Janet, had immediately ordered him to strip, dress in the light cotton clothes she was carrying and climb into bed.

'Sweet Merlin!' he thought. 'She's another Madam Pomfrey!'

However, after she pulled the curtains closed around the bed, which both gave him privacy and no chance to disagree, she left him alone to disrobe and put on the, what looked like, hospital scrubs.

With a sigh, he did just that. However, he left his leather belt with his pouch hanging from it around his waist and under the loose top and his wand holster on his left wrist. Only he knew they were there.

She came back in only a few moments later.

He suspected she either had remote monitoring on him, or it was simply from experience.

That then led to him being, unlike Pomfrey's wand-waving, poked and prodded; ordered to give urine, saliva and blood samples; questioned about his diet; questioned about the healed injuries she'd discovered; and a raft more. After two 'gruelling' hours, she finally left him alone. He'd had a plain meal delivered by a uniformed orderly only fifteen minutes later. The food, to him, tasted _glorious_.

Twenty minutes after that, just as he was polishing off the last of the food, the SG-1 'team' walked in and made themselves at home around his bed.

Harry took one look at Teal'c and burst into laughter. Then, every time he looked in his direction again, he'd lose it to laughter again.

"Oh, please!" he finally begged; tears in his eyes and on the verge of developing hiccups, while waving in Teal'c's direction. "Can _someone_ give the Jaffa a _decent_ shirt to wear?!"

The team had obviously decided to change into muggle as a way to probably get him to open up. Jack was wearing trainers, stone-washed blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a lightweight unadorned bomber jacket. A dark blue baseball cap was shoved under an epaulette. Daniel was wearing similar below the waist, but was wearing a plaid shirt with a University of Chicago zippered, but unzipped, windcheater instead of a bomber jacket. Sam was wearing mid-heel pumps, a skirt and blouse, looking a bit 'businessy'. But Teal'c was wearing olive green combat pants, black boots and... a bright baby pink 'Hello Kitty' T-shirt.

Again, the Jaffa had only cocked an eyebrow back at Harry's reaction, but again Harry could see the amusement behind his eyes.

Finally, Daniel walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a plain black T-shirt and offered it to Teal'c. "We don't want to see our new friend die from laughter; do we?" he wryly explained.

Teal'c gave a short bow and said, "Indeed." He then popped behind a curtain and changed T-shirts; back only a minute later.

Teal'c silently handed it to Jack, who rolled his eyes and said, "Well, it _was_ funny, wasn't it?"

What followed after that was the SG-1 team engaging Harry in what, on the surface, appeared to be just conversation. However, Harry could see it for what it was; a mild interrogation.

One example was, Jack said, "So, back on C1S-204 you said―"

"C1 what?" Harry interrupted.

"C1S-204," replied Sam. "We give systems designations. It just makes things easier."

"As I was saying," said Jack. "Back on... the planet... You said something about how you had just finished exams when you got hit with that light, right before you ended up on C1... the planet?"

"Yup," nodded Harry.

"Looking at you," he said, "And that you said you'd been there since June 1996, that would have been your... middle school final exams?"

Harry shook his head and replied. "British schools only have two levels of mandatory education; Primary and High; six years in Primary and six in High. I was not that far off my sixteenth birthday when... whatever happened, happened."

"Oh?" said Jack, sitting forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "So, when's your birthday? Have we just missed it, or is it coming up?"

"Missed," smiled Harry. "I was born on the thirty-first of July, 1980."

"It's funny how you Brits put the date before the month," said Daniel, immediately distracting him; or, at least trying to.

Turning to him, Harry said, "Actually, we think the opposite. Think about it; the way _we_ do it is in the correct order - day, date, month, year. I never could figure out why you Americans do it the other way around."

That had the three non-Jaffa all grin.

Daniel added, "They do it the other way around in the military, too."

Harry noticed Jack frown just slightly at the younger man, which confirmed for him that the change of clothes into 'civilian' was deliberate. They were trying to get his mind off the fact they were military.

Already, they'd got his name, including his middle name now, his date of birth, his true age and his country of residence. Behind his Occlumency shields he was highly amused.

"So," he said. "Once your healer... doctor... learns I'm not carrying any contagious alien parasite, disease or other illness... when can I get out of here?"

" _We'elll_... we need to properly debrief you, first," replied Jack. "Then we need to go through all this paperwork... You have been missing for over three years, after all. People are going to be thinking you're dead."

'You got that right,' thought Harry. 'And I happen to _like_ that idea.'

"Then we need to be careful about how you are returned to the 'real' world..."

"For a start," said Sam, smoothly cutting in. "I'm sure your family miss you." As if suddenly realising something, she asked, "Actually, can you tell us who your parents are? We'll see what we can do to let them know, right away, that you're safe."

Harry gave scoffing snort and said, "My parents are dead. They were killed soon after my first birthday."

That shut everyone up. Daniel even gave a wince before he quietly said, "I can relate. I lost both my parents when I was eight."

"Sorry," Sam quietly said by way of apology to Harry, she'd lost her mother to a car accident when she was twelve. Then she perked up a little and said, "What about who raised you? _Surely_ , they'd want to know you were safe."

Harry gave a self-deprecating chuckle and said, "Actually, they'd probably be disappointed. They never wanted me. I was thrust on them and they believed they had no choice, _but_ to raise me. To them, I was nothing but a non-paid indentured servant; good enough only for keeping their house clean, cooking, doing the laundry, etcetera."

Again, that shut them up. His 'interrogators' were caught flat-footed with that one.

Sam was the first to rally and ask, "Still... they were your guardians at the time you disappeared, yes?"

Harry thought about it and what it would mean for him to give these people that information. 'Oh, yes. They deserve it.'

"Well," he began. "I'm an adult now, right? At least, I'm an adult in Britain. I don't know when you decide when someone reaches adulthood here."

"Eighteen, in most States" said Daniel. "Twenty-one in others."

"Still..." pressed Sam. "We need to look through your missing persons report... there'd have been one filed―"

"I doubt it," said Harry. "If anything, I'm sure my relatives would have had a _party_ when they were told I'd gone missing."

"Someone would have still filed one," said Jack.

Harry sighed and pretended to give up. " _Fiiiinnnneee..._ " he sulked. "They were Vernon and Petunia Dursley."

"Address?" pressed Jack.

With another sigh, this time one of faux-annoyance, Harry replied, "Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey... England... United Kingdom, Earth, Sol System, the Milky Way―"

Jack burst into laughter, shutting Harry up.

"I think it appropriate, adding the rest, given where I've just been," grinned Harry.

"Well, you didn't actually leave the Milky Way Galaxy..." said Sam, also amused and smiling. "So, I think we can drop that last one off; yes?"

Harry just shrugged with a smile.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The soft interrogation went on for a couple hours and only stopped when Doctor Frasier, Janet, walked in and ordered the SG-1 team out. She was also carrying a 'perfectly', military-style folded set of clothes with a pair of boots on top.

However, Harry had already figured out that the security camera in the corner of the room, currently focused on him, was being carefully monitored and must have seen a sign from, likely, Jack that they were done.

When he thought back on it using his Occlumency-enhanced near-perfect memory, she had walked in less than a minute after Jack had donned his baseball-cap - which, until then, remained stuffed under the epaulette on his jacket. Again, Harry was amused.

"Alright, Mister Potter," said Janet, dropping the folded pile of clothes on the foot of his bed with the boots on top. "Your blood work shows no _immediate_ sign of any disease or anything like that; so, you can hop up and get dressed.

"Once you've done that, this young man here," she gestured to where a clearly Air Force soldier had stepped in after she did, "Will show you to one of the sets of suites we have for visiting dignitaries.

"I'm afraid I still need to do a few tests, yet, to see if you're contagious with anything. So, I need to hold onto you for a while. We can't have you leaving here with a disease that might infect the entire population of Earth, can we?"

' _Ooooh,_ ' thought Harry. 'One huge serving of Dumbledoresque "Guilt Trip Pudding", coming right up. _Niiiice!_ '

Then she stepped away and re-closed the curtains around the bed, before he heard her walk off. She clearly did not want him asking her any questions. Those were just as clearly being left to SG-1.

When Harry hopped up and checked out the stack of clothing he found he'd been provided with olive green 'combat' pants, a black T-shirt, black boxers, olive upper-calf-length long socks and a pair of black combat boots. It was a 'match' for what Teal'c wore.

He quickly dressed and looked around for the doctor, only to find there was only he and the air force sold― _airman_ in the room.

"Ready, Sir?" asked the airman.

"Do you know what happened to my stuff?" he asked, looking around.

"They're checking through it to ensure there's nothing dangerous mixed in with it," the airman replied, before he gestured to the door. The flat way the airman replied told Harry it was a 'rehearsed' response. Obviously, Harry wasn't going to be getting any of his Goa'uld 'technology' back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The airman escorted Harry down a couple of different vacant corridors before he turned to a door and opened it.

'A busy military establishment like this and we pass no one in the corridors?' he thought. "I don't think that's coincidental.'

"Here you are, Sir," the airman genially said, gesturing Harry within.

After Harry entered the airman indicated a door to the right and said, "Bedroom, shower and toilet are in there, Sir." Then added, "You'll find soaps, shampoos, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a couple of towels, that sort of thing. Everything you need. The bed's been made up with spare blankets and pillows available and at hand."

Before Harry could say anything the airman then indicated the coffee table and said, "Magazines, newspapers and a couple of books in case you might get bored. I doubt that'll happen though."

Then he turned back and said, "If you need anything, someone will be right outside the door to see to your needs."

Then he walked out, closing the door behind him, without waiting for Harry to say anything. Again, Harry realised that had to be deliberate.

'Right outside my door to see to my needs?' he thought. 'Clearly a guard.'

Then he grinned and thought, 'Won't do them any good, though.'

He looked around and saw the camera in the corner of the room up near the ceiling and chose to ignore it.

"Hang on," he muttered, loud enough for any nearby microphones he expected in the room to pick up. "He said there's a shower in there."

He then hurried through the door to the bedroom and on into the en-suite bathroom.

" _Woohoo!_ " he exclaimed, for the benefit of the microphones and cameras.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Up in the briefing room, Hammond turned off the wide flat screen monitor and turned back to the full table as Jack and Daniel were laughing at Harry's 'Woohoo!' exclamation.

"Well, peoples?" said Hammond. "What do we know?"

"I think I'd go 'Woohoo!', too; if I hadn't had a proper shower in over three years, General," grinned Jack.

The General looked on with amusement for a moment before he quietly replied, "Me too." Then he visibly straightened himself up and asked, "What do we have on our young, apparently, Brit?"

One of those still in Air Force Service Dress Uniform, a major, immediately replied, "Mister Harry James Potter, no indication of whether or not 'Harry' is a diminutive of his first name; male and in fine health; born thirty-first of July 1980, making him nineteen years old; supposedly last known address to be Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England, United Kingdom.

"Medical signs show him to have suffered from neglect as a child, with scars and healed broken bones supporting that belief; he is covered in scars under his clothing, with at least two scars from where Jaffa staff weapons have 'clipped' him. Other significant scars include one on his inside right forearm up near the elbow, with a corresponding smaller scar directly on the other, outside, side of the same arm; it appears to have been a major puncture wound of something pointed and likely conical that... punched... right through and between the ulna and radius.

"Alien-wise, his body seems to contain some form of energy similar to that of what remained when Jolinar left Major Carter and is identified by a certain protein marker. If I was to posit a hypothesis, I would initially state that he once hosted a symbiote. However, there are other indicators that contradict that belief."

The major then looked to the next, a captain.

The man gave a nod and said, "Of his clothing and what he was apparently carrying when met by SG-1, he had on his left hand and forearm what Major Carter has identified as properly called a _kara kesh_ and what we call a hand device. Apparently, only Goa'uld have them. That it is gold also identifies it as once belonging to a senior System Lord. The other device, another hand device, Major Carter tells us it is a _hajar alshifa'_ healing device. Again, it can only be used by someone who has the Goa'uld protein marker Major Wilkins spoke of.

"The staff weapon is a simple staff weapon, but is running low in _naquadah_ reserves. There's nothing otherwise special about it.

"The same could also be said for the rest of what he was wearing: Jaffa boots and greaves, bracers and under-robes. Clearly, they're scavenged from when he battled the Jaffa and defeated the Goa'uld, Imhotep. The hat has us scratching our heads, though."

"Why?" demanded Hammond.

"While it is clearly battered from many years of long-term use, it also appears to be almost new," replied the Captain. "It's well weathered, but there's no fraying or similar as you'd expect."

"We'll see if we can find an answer for you to that conundrum from our guest," said the general, before he turned to the next officer, a woman. "Captain?"

"Psychologically, he does not seem to display many signs of having been in life and death combat. If anything, he's quite apathetic. Though he seems to be quite open with communicating to SG-1 he's very wary of Teal'c, though not afraid of him. I get the impression he views Teal'c as a possible enemy - from the way he at least once referred to him as 'the Jaffa' - but does not consider him a threat, even when completely unarmed.

"He's also holding back on a lot of information. His outward behaviour and motion shows him to be happy to be back on Earth and grateful to SG-1 for bringing him back. However, it's a carefully constructed... façade. Behind what he says and does, he's carefully weighing whether or not we're a threat to him."

"Keep watching him," ordered the General.

The next, another female captain, said, "The information he's provided all checks out. There was a boy who lived at the address in Surrey. However, he disappeared at around the time the house, apparently, suffered what the local forensics report states was a 'gas main' explosion. However, the photos of the scene do not gel with that. Digging deeper we believe it to have been some sort of terrorist attack, possibly from a splinter group of the IRA. However, there's nothing to link the residents to that organisation.

"The occupants were a Vernon Patrick Dursley, his wife Petunia Heather Dursley née Evans, their son Dudley Vernon Dursley... and one Harry James Potter, reportedly the nephew of the wife. All four were reportedly killed in the explosion. However, the body of the Potter boy, supposedly sixteen at the time, was never found.

"Both boys attended the local Primary school as children, a Little Whinging Primary School. At eleven both boys were withdrawn from the school, with the Dursley boy sent to a private school called Smeltings College for Honoured Sons; the Potter boy, rumour has it, was sent to Saint Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys."

" _What?_ " exclaimed the Psychologist Captain, who had given the immediately previous report. "That's nonsense! There's no such place!"

"I'm aware," the other flatly replied. "However, the Dursleys were known to have told all their neighbours that is where the boy was sent for nine months of the year since shortly after his eleventh birthday."

"The Dursleys lied," said the psychologist. "It also ties in with what our Mister Potter said to SG-1 about them while he was in the infirmary. They abused him; physically, emotionally and psychologically. It also explains why he displays that façade and 'wears' it as if it's completely normal for him to do so."

Getting things back on track, the general stared right at the last captain and asked, "Anything else, Captain?"

"Yes, Sir," she replied. "While our Mister Potter did not attend some patently obvious fake school, I can find no record of him having attended any _other_ school from the time he was eleven.

"Further, I've found records concerning his mother, Lily Primrose Potter née Evans, including her date and place of birth, and the primary school she attended with her sister in the industrial town of Cokeworth in Northern England. However, like her son, she was pulled from the public schooling system at aged eleven and there's no sign she attended another afterwards. Actually, there's no further sign of her in the government records, _at all_ ; except for a public Notice of Death related to the thirty-first of October, 1981.

"Today's the anniversary of his parent's death!?" exclaimed Daniel. "No _wonder_ he hates Hallowe'en!"

That had a few murmurs of sympathy and whispered conversation before the captain spoke over the top of them all, shutting them up. "I also have no record of his supposed father, James Fleamont Potter, anywhere in the government systems _except_ his Notice of Death on the same day as his wife and as a registered holder of a significant share portfolio on the British Stock Exchange. With the security systems the Brits employ, that should not be possible; yet, it is.

"I've checked the systems thoroughly and our young Mister Potter is now recognised as the sole beneficiary of all those investments. In investments alone, he's quite wealthy. However, all my searching through the financial databases as to where the dividends flow all end at a bank called 'Gringotts'. However, no such bank apparently exists beyond that name."

"I'm sure it's a puzzle you'll be working hard to solve, Captain," said the general. "What I want to know is; does what our supposed Mister Potter tell us ring true?"

"Oh, yes-Sir," said the captain, coming out of her deep thoughts. She then slid a 5"x7" laser-copier printed photo up the table and said, "This is a copy of the only school photo ever taken of the Potter boy, back when he was ten years old."

When it was slid up the table to Hammond, he picked it up to have a look at it before he passed it to Jack. You could easily see the resemblance. All that was missing of the current Mister Potter was the aviator style glasses similar to what Daniel used to wear back in 1995 when they went to Abydos; and the scar on his forehead was no longer as... pronounced.

"That's him, alright," said Jack, passing the photo to Sam.

"He was a cute kid," murmured Sam.

"Bit skinny, though," said Jack

Captain Janet Frasier scowled and said, "Not skinny; _malnourished_ , Sir."

Jack nodded back in silent apology. "He's obviously recovered from it now, though."

Frasier nodded back. "Yes, Sir. Scars aside, he's quite fit and healthy... now. I'd say living on a 105% Earth-normal gravity planet for just over three years has helped with that."

"Who's next?" asked Hammond.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After what had felt like a two hour shower, Harry finally dragged himself out from under it. His skin was beginning to 'prune'.

On Hadrian, Harry's home ' _Safe Haven_ ' was not huge, but was a lot bigger than that original Flintstone-esque cottage he'd built for himself near the Chappa'ai - Stargate, as the Americans called it. Though it only ever had one bedroom, it also had a sitting room, a bathroom, a mock-kitchen, and a toilet. His water and drainage facilities had been as the result of magically digging a ten foot deep circular hole, transfiguring the dirt into concrete to line the sides of it, no bottom; then laying a huge slab over it. Then topping it with a further four foot thick layer of dirt to bring the top back to 'ground' level, before then building his house on top of that.

His draining from his toilet, sinks, hand basin, laundry trough and shower all travelled down through the floor, then through S-bends - he learned the need for the latter of those pretty quick - then into the unbottomed circular underground tank to drain away.

Water, together with water pressure, was done by building a thirty foot tall tower with a huge stone tank on top. That led to pipes into the house to the kitchen, laundry and bathroom taps and the toilet cistern he'd fashioned up for himself. Water pressure was as a result of gravity feed from the tank.

The only annoyance for him was the occasional need to climb the tower and stand on a platform he'd built onto it, while then aiming his wand into the tank and massively overpowering an Aguamenti Charm to fill it. However, if he didn't do it often enough, he'd magically exhaust himself and sleep for two days afterwards.

Due to the near constant heat on the planet, he'd quickly figured out that if it had an axial tilt it was nowhere near as much as Earth's because of the lack of recognisable seasons, the water was always a little above lukewarm. The size of the tank meant it rarely dropped more than a few degrees overnight, which was why it was so big, unless it was starting to run low of water.

The lack of proper seasons was also one of the reasons he believed he'd lost track of time for how long it had been he'd been on the planet. However, he was wrong about that.

While Earth had a one day rotation around its own axis and a one year orbit around the sun, the same was not true for Hadrian. Comparative to Earth, Hadrian had a twenty five and a half hour day and it took fourteen Earth months for the planet to orbit its sun, Sirius A.

After his very much appreciated long and, quite frankly, _deliciously decadent_ shower Harry redressed in his supplied clothes and began to better explore his VIP suite.

As the airman had assured him, everything he needed was at hand - except, of course, freedom.

He'd been reading a copy of the _Denver Post_ , Colorado's main daily newspaper, when he had a knock on the door.

Amused, as he knew that whoever was on the other side of that door already knew he was sitting on the provided couch reading the provided newspaper and was fully dressed, he went to the door and answered it.

Standing on the other side was Jack.

Jack grinned and waved. "Howdy pardner!" he mocked in a fake 'cowboy' accent. "I's headed fer the vit'lin shed and was a-wonderin' if yer of a mind to join me fer some chow."

Harry couldn't help himself. He grinned back. For a supposed colonel in the US Air Force Harry found the man quite amusing. However, he also realised the man couldn't have become an officer, let alone attained the rank of colonel, if he couldn't also be quite serious when he needed to be.

Trying to affect his own fake accent, this time as a 'Noble' of the British aristocracy, Harry returned, "Thank you for the invitation, my good man. I would be _de-lighted_ to join you."

That had Jack grinning back. "Come on, then."

As Jack led the way, Harry followed. And, as he stepped out the door, he saw that there was, indeed, an armed airman standing guard on his door. The man was even obviously doing that, as he was standing at what Harry thought of as the 'at ease' stance and almost ramrod straight.

This time, as Harry walked, there were more personnel in the corridors; with quite a few soldiers armoured and armed and with their 'serious faces' on. He also saw, from the same lab coat Janet wore, that there were also doctors or, simply, scientists mixed in, deep in discussion as they walked in pairs or more.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After they entered what was clearly a pretty decently sized 'cafeteria', but only about half the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, Jack led him straight to the 'chow line', showing him how to get a plate and load up with what he wanted to eat.

Because he'd never managed to transfigure lizard rat or any of the other meats into something as complex as a curry, as soon as he saw and smelled that, he took some of it for himself. However, he avoided the rice. Rice was one of those things he could easily transfigure the local flora on Hadrian into and, therefore, had done so a lot. Instead, he added roast veggies to the side.

Sitting down at a basic Formica-topped table for four with plain wooden chairs, Harry sat opposite Jack as they both began to eat. Harry also noticed the centre of the table was loaded with condiments, something he'd not had on Hadrian. Happily, he immediately picked up the pepper to sprinkle over his veggies, then the table salt.

Then, while Jack was trying to dig further information out of Harry, Harry began to do the same with Jack. However, Harry was only trying to discover one piece of information. And that was the location of the base; besides it being in, as he suspected, Colorado in the United States.

When he'd asked why he couldn't see any windows, Jack replied, "We're underground."

"Hunh!" he replied. "Funnily enough, I was underground when I was hit with that light."

As Jack tensed up while trying to appear nonchalant, Harry asked, "That might be something common, you know. How far down are we?"

Jack, was about to ignore the question when they were joined by Daniel.

"Hi!" he chirpily said, sitting down next to Jack. "What're we talking about?"

"How deep we are below ground?" Harry immediately replied.

"Approximately three thousand five hundred and twenty feet at the Stargate," Daniel immediately replied.

Harry saw Jack wince, but not say anything.

"Wow! For real!?" said Harry, appearing shocked. "I think I was only about... a hundred feet down when whatever happened, happened."

"What?" asked Daniel. "You couldn't have been on the Underground, then. At least I don't think so. That's the name of the subway railway in London, right? The Underground?"

"The Underground, yes," replied Harry. "But that's not where we were."

"We?" asked Jack.

Harry shrugged and replied, "I was there with friends from school. But, I'm not going to tell you who they were. I don't want them to get in trouble."

"That was three years ago, Harry," said Jack. "I doubt they'd get into trouble for something that happened that long ago."

Harry appeared to think about that, but was actually thinking of something else. He knew he shouldn't say anything due to the Statute of Secrecy, but... Merlin damn it... these people had helped him get home; or, at least back to Earth. Besides, this was clearly a secret military installation, so these people knew how to keep a secret. And he wanted a bit of revenge against the magical world for how he was treated for all of both fourth year by the school and fifth year by the entire society.

He leaned forward and made sure no-one was listening in and quietly asked, "You two can keep a secret, right?"

Harry saw as both also eagerly leaned forward and nodded, with Jack unconsciously letting his finger touch a lapel pin in his bomber jacket. Behind his shields, Harry smirked. He'd read enough of Dean Thomas's _James Bond_ books to quickly figure out the pin was likely a listening bug.

"We weren't in the Underground, but we _were_ underground. We were somewhere where we'd snuck in during the early hours of the morning," he 'confessed'.

"Under where?" asked Daniel.

Again Harry looked around before he turned back and quietly replied, "Under Whitehall. Under the Old _War Office_ Building. You should _see_ what's under there! It's _huuuuge_!"

Sitting back again, he watched as both SG-1 members also sat back. While Jack looked a little pleased and was trying to hide it, Daniel was looking a little confused and pensive.

"No need to look so worried, Daniel," said Harry. "Look, Jack knows. It was a school challenge prank. I just got hit by something that did something to me."

Jumping on it, Jack said, "He's right. The Old War Office Building was where the Brits _Command_ headquartered during World War Two. They shouldn't have been there, but what is done is done."

Daniel only glanced at Jack before he clearly dropped it. That spoke to Harry of a long familiarity.

"Your school was in London, was it?" asked Jack.

"No, south western Scotland," Harry replied. "We'd only finished our exams that early afternoon and raced straight to London. That's why it was so late at night before we got there. It must have been well after midnight as we were sneaking around down there."

Frowning a little in confusion, Daniel asked, "What's the name of the school?" Then said, "Oh! Silly me, I was thinking of Universities considering your current age. So, which high school?"

"A very private one," Harry fondly smiled. "It was the alma mater, I think is the term, my parents attended. Hogwarts. They'd paid for me to attend within weeks after I was born. Therefore, my aunt and uncle couldn't stop me attending; though they certainly tried."

"Hog what?" blinked Jack.

Harry chuckled and said, "I _know_!" As if they were sharing a joke. "However, believe it or not, Hogwarts is the name of a _flower_."

After dinner, or what the Americans called 'supper', Harry returned to his room, claiming he was looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed.

Obviously Jack felt he'd got enough out of Harry for one session and happily escorted him back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning, Harry rose and meditated on the floor of the sitting room, fully dressed, waiting to be 'shown' to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. He was, once again, sorting memories in his fully-formed mindscape and tweaking it to improve it.

This time he was collected by Sam.

Again, the questions were subtle and again they were joined by another member of the SG-1 team. This time it was Teal'c.

"Major Carter, Mister Potter," he said with a slight bow to each of them while holding one of the metal serving trays they used in military establishments between his two hands. "May I join you?"

"Yes; of course, Teal'c," replied Sam.

As Teal'c sat and carefully laid out his breakfast, Sam continued with her soft interrogation. "So, Harry," she over-nonchalantly said. "Did you leave behind a _girl_ friend?"

That almost immediately put him off his breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and baked beans on toast. Pausing for a moment while he forced the pain he suddenly felt down - he believed Hermione had died, that night - he quietly replied, "No. There was one girl..." and sighed.

"Loved her from afar?" asked a clearly compassionate Sam.

"Yes," he sadly replied, looking down at his breakfast. "I have no idea what happened to her."

"People move on, Harry," she said. "She was, what, sixteen at the time?"

"Yes," he sighed. "Nearly seventeen. Because the age of adulthood is seventeen in Scotland, she was only a few months off being recognised as an adult. Her birthday was... _is_... the thirteenth of September. She was born in 1979, so she would have turned twenty almost seven weeks ago."

"What was her name?" she kindly asked.

"Hermione," he replied. "Hermione Granger. Her name was supposed to be in a play by William Shakespeare. I don't know the significance of that, though. I'd not had the chance to ask, as she was quite touchy about her name."

"Her name's from Shakespeare's _A Winters Tale_ ," said Sam. "It's a beautiful name."

"I thought so, too," he smiled.

After breakfast, Sam escorted him back to his VIP suite and told him she'd come back and collect him 'in about an hour'.

Harry just smiled at her and said, "Thank you."

He returned to his meditation, interrupted by breakfast, as he now had all the information he needed to make his getaway. He actually had that once Daniel had both confirmed for him that they were underground and that the depth was somewhere near three thousand five hundred feet.

He was going to pull a trick he figured out how to do on Hadrian. He was going to apparate, but not laterally. It was how he'd been able to quickly scout around on Hadrian once he figured out how to do it.

Once twenty minutes had passed, he stood and, with his back shielding what he was doing from the camera, carefully drew his wand from his hidden holster. Then, still with it out of sight, he pointed it straight down and, with the exact dimensions of the suite firmly in his mind, firmly incanted in his mindscape his 'Super' Cleaning Charm. ' _Clean!_ ' he firmly thought, while pumping maximum magic in one burst out his wand and into the parquetry-wood floor.

As soon as the magic pulse did its cleaning job on the suite, he immediately turned his head to look at the camera. The little almost unnoticeable red light had gone out and there was a tiny wisp of smoke rising from behind its lens.

Grinning to himself, he gave one last check of himself while listening to an muted alarm go off out the door somewhere, pictured in his mind where he needed to be and mentally incanted, ' _Beee THERE!_ ' And apparated on 'there', disappearing with a clearly audible crack of displaced air.

As he knew he had to apparate through three thousand five hundred plus feet of rock, power-wise he held nothing back; hence the loud crack and the amount of _will_ he pumped into it.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In the command base's monitoring room, the two airmen and sergeant manning the 'post' at the time were alerted to the main camera, plus all the listening bugs, suddenly go on the fritz in the 'VIP Brit's' suite. At the same time, the EMP alarm, signalling an electromagnetic pulse had gone off inside the base, sounded its alert.

" _Shhhhit!_ " said the Sergeant. He immediately reached over and hit the Command-wide alert signifying an EMP burst within the complex.

However, most of the command staff had already known something major had happened when their live camera and audio feed of Harry's suite suddenly turned to, respectively, nothing but snow and static noise.

Jack and Teal'c immediately ran for Harry's suite, while the rest of the staff tried to find out what had happened.

They arrived at the door within a half-minute, to find the airman on guard duty already had the door open and was scanning the room from just within the doorway with the barrel of his side arm up and pointed everywhere he looked.

Both Jack and Teal'c slipped right past him and started to look through the rooms themselves. Within a few seconds, Jack came out of the en-suite and looked to the airman. "He's gone! Did he pass you?"

" _No_ , Sir!" the airman immediately replied, lowering his weapon to the ready position.

Teal'c asked, "Did the door open, seemingly of its own accord?"

"No, Sir!" the airman more calmly replied.

"Damn!" muttered Jack. Looking to the airman he more firmly said, "Alright, airman. Out. And lock this door until I send someone to figure out what happened."

"Yes, Sir," the airman replied, as Jack and Teal'c quickly left the room to return to the command centre.

The airman was quick to pull the door close, fish a set of keys out of his pockets and lock the door.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Six thousand feet up from where he was, but approximately two and half thousand feet above the upper slopes of a mountain - of what appeared to be a mountain _range_ \- Harry appeared in mid-air

He quickly looked down to make sure he would be a while before he hit the ground, as he was now falling, and then scanned his surroundings. It took him only seconds to spot a small city, or large town, only about twenty miles away.

He stared at what he could see of a large grove of trees near the city and apparated a second time.

He appeared within the grove and almost immediately fell over. "Oof!" he quietly muttered, staggering, before putting his off hand out to rest against a tree trunk. 'Now, _that's_ what I call line of sight apparation!' he thought.

Looking about to make sure he hadn't been spotted, Harry quickly transfigured his 'military' clothing into what Daniel had been wearing. He'd actually used Daniel's attire of what he was wearing while Harry was in the infirmary, as his model.

Now he needed to carefully make his way back to England.

He quickly hurried from the grove of trees and briskly walked to the city. It might end up being a mile he needed to 'hike', but he got very used to walking while on Hadrian. Besides, with the five percent less gravity, since he'd returned to Earth Harry felt as if he was almost walking on air.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It did not take the SGC long to know Harry was no longer within the mountain triple command complex, let alone the SGC-only complex. They had that figured out as Harry was picking up a 'free' map of the area, by way of a copy charm, from the city's main library.

A search team was immediately sent out to look for him in the surrounding hills, heading to try and cut him off. However, he was already beyond that point.

Once he had confirmed he was in Colorado, located that on the magically copied map of the United States he'd picked up from the library, then figured out a place to hide as his magical reserves were now quite depleted, he headed directly there with one last apparation jump.

Here, he was sneaky. As it was on his way to New York, he apparated to Wichita in Kansas. It was not quite five hundred miles east from where he was.

Once there, he found an out of the way motel and used his invisibility cloak to see just how busy they were. Surprisingly, considering it was only a day after Hallowe'en and it was a big festive holiday in the United States, the motel was only three-quarters full.

He 'acquired' a room for himself, temporarily pinched the room key for it and then placed the room under a hiding charm.

Once set, he laid down and went to sleep.

He knew that, when you were in the sort of situation he was in at the moment where he might need to run at any time - he had no idea if or how fast the US Air Force could find him - then you got sleep and ate when you could.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

He needn't have worried himself too much, though. US Air Force Security Forces and members of the SGC restricted their search, at first, to the area outside the base, then moved directly to the outskirts of Colorado Springs and searched back to the mountain complex. That took them over a day.

By that time, Harry had gotten a good fifteen hours sleep - needed to replenish his magical reserves due to apparating through so much solid rock - and was on the move again, starting during the early morning hours that night.

Magically recharged, he apparated directly into the air, five thousand feet above the Statue of Liberty, looked down and saw a spot that was currently free of anyone - it was early morning, after all - and apparated to that point. And donned his invisibility cloak before hiding on the grounds of the island.

He could have immediately apparated to Manhattan Island as he had direct sight of it. However, he also knew New York to be absolutely chock full of people twenty-four hours a day. He feared he'd be immediately spotted by far too many people to obliviate of knowledge they'd seen him pop out of thin air.

Under his invisibility cloak and in his hidey-hole he started to pass the time by lightly meditating. However, the stench of the air, after being used to clean air for so long, almost burned his sinuses and lungs.

It would take him a while to again get used to one of those banes of civilisation, air pollution.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With the US Air Force security personnel still focusing on the area around the Cheyenne mountains, Harry was calmly sitting cross-legged under the shadow of 'Lady Liberty'.

Once the sun came up and people were once more visiting the island, Harry waited only about an hour before calmly casting a Notice-me-Not charm on himself, removing his invisibility cloak and stuffing it in his mokeskin pouch.

Then he rose and went to the jetty to catch the next ferry heading back to Manhattan Island.

From there he found a local travel agency and found details on where he could catch a passenger-carrying ship to the English Isles. He was surprised to discover they still did so and that one, a Norwegian cruise liner, was leaving in two days from the New York Passenger Ship Terminal not far from his current location.

Though much colder than he was used to, it was still a nice day so he decided to walk it. Hell, it was only four and a half miles up the west side of the island up 12th Avenue. He set a brisk pace.

Knowing to stick to the main thoroughfares he was fine with the trip. Foot traffic was, to him, tremendous though. He'd never seen so many people in his life! And he certainly was no longer used to it.

However, none of these people _gawked_ at him. If anything, they flatly refused to make eye contact with anyone, including him. And that was... _marvelous_!

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

An annoyed General Hammond was back in the briefing room, listening to reports flow in and around him. The SGC had never been created with the idea of staging a massive 'operations' from within, so there was no suitable venue within the complex to handle one. Other than the 'mess', the briefing room was the largest space they had, so that's where it was set up.

And that massive operation had only one target; 'Find Harry Potter.'

The electronic intelligence specialist captain from the previous day walked in and said, "Sir. We've found Hermione Granger."

"And?" he irritably asked.

"Sir, she's in _America_."

That had the general perk up. "Where?" he demanded.

"Massachusetts, Sir," replied the captain, handing over a slim file. "Her parents immigrated here from England back in mid July, 1996. Apparently, that was about a month after whatever it was that allegedly happened to Mister Potter under Whitehall."

As Hammond flicked open the file, he was given the relevant physical information of the girl right on top. Of course, one of those pieces of data was the home address of her parents. There were still quite a number of blanks, though; but the photo wasn't one of them. The girl had picked up a Massachusetts driver's license only eighteen months earlier. The address on the license was the same as her parents.

"Keep working on this," said Hammond. "If they're here it means we don't have to go through so many diplomatic channels to talk to them. The Granger woman should be able to confirm a lot of what our Mister Potter told us."

"Yes, Sir," replied the captain with a nod before she walked out.

Hammond caught the attention of a security forces sergeant and said, "Call in SG-1 and tell them I want to speak with them. We've got a lead I want them to chase up."

"Yes, Sir," said the sergeant before hurrying off.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry found the right ship and, after casting a Notice-me-Not on himself, boarded it to check it out.

He found the personnel, crew, of the ship in a major cleaning frenzy as if it hadn't long returned from a voyage. Which made sense, since a passenger ship wasn't making any money sitting alongside a dock between cruises.

On board, he found a pamphlet that had a map of the ship layout of the passenger areas and disembarked again.

With that in hand he went and found a café and pilfered some food - some to eat now, some to put under stasis and eat later - before taking it to a park across 12th Avenue from the Terminal to eat. As he sat there, enjoying his food, he was building a list within his mind of what he should have been paying for everything. He did not consider himself a thief; so would be paying each of the people he took something from, including for the use of the motel room he stayed at in Wichita, once he got to Gringotts.

He could, of course, have made his way back to magical Britain by magical means. However, he had no idea whether or not Voldemort had taken control of the country while he was off-planet. And did not want to trigger any alerts the man or his people had set up in the meantime.

That meant sneaking in to the country a muggle way. And, knowing security was going to be much tougher at international airports, decided he'd try to get in via ship.

He was quite willing to travel on a cargo ship. However, on a passenger liner he'd have access to good food. His asking the travel agent general questions told him that, as long as he didn't eat within the restaurants on the ship, nor drank any alcohol at any of the on-board bars, all the food in the main cafeterias on-board were included in the cost of the ticket.

After eating his fill, he went to a local 'inn' and found himself a room he could use until he'd be able to board the next afternoon. He used the same methods to secure his room as the one in the Wichita motel.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next day, after eating his kept-under-stasis food for breakfast and meditating for most of the remainder of the morning, Harry let himself out of his room and walked back across 12th Avenue to the Terminal. He wanted to be early, but not too early in case someone noticed anything. He had no idea whether or not a security camera could see through a Notice-me-Not and wasn't willing to find out the hard way.

One of the first things he did, once on-board, he used his map to walk to the area on the ship he thought would most suit. He avoided the elevators and used the stairs as it would not do for someone to notice a lift operate without anyone, apparently, in it.

On the right floor he then found a utility compartment that didn't appear to get used for much and let himself in. Then he employed his magics.

First, he cast a powerful hiding charm on the compartment. He then cast muggle avoidance, wizard avoidance, Notice-me-Not on the door, an illusion over the outside of the door to even hide it from security cameras... he hoped... plus others.

Once that was done he muttered, "Right." Then, inside, set to work with transfiguration.

He wizard-spaced the _crap_ out of the compartment until it was huge. Then he set-to with transfiguring what was already in there into what he'd need for a two week voyage, comfort-wise.

He'd actually already looked into a similar stateroom for that floor and made his transfigured utility compartment somewhat match. He even successfully hooked into the water and sewerage systems simply by using his now 'tried and true' method of employing sheer _willpower_ and intent to make it happen. However, as he had no electrical devices and he didn't want to screw around with transfiguring electricity wires anyway, he didn't hook the compartment up to any of that. He already knew electricity and magic didn't play well together and wasn't prepared to experiment here to see if he could figure out a way to get around it.

Once done he settled in to wait.

All that transfiguration work had again tired him out. So, after first making sure his hiding and security charms were doing their job, he laid down on his bed and went to sleep.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	5. Jolly Ol' England

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Five - Jolly Ol' England**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Harry woke he found the ship had already 'set sail'. They were now exiting the mouth of the Hudson River and the ship was starting to swing from its south-easterly heading to a more easterly one.

He was also hungry again.

Casting an illusion over himself to disguise his appearance in case his plan to just blend in with the other passengers didn't work, he mentally fortified himself and left his little hidey-hole. He'd already stored the map of the ship in memory so knew how to get to the cafeteria. That's where he headed.

It worked.

So far, he was able to move about the ship with no one, apparently, the wiser. He'd gone to the cafeteria and eaten a decent, though plain, feed and decided to do what a lot of the other passengers were apparently doing; he explored.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

SG-1 had just returned to the SGC from a quick visit to Massachusetts and went straight in to see Hammond.

"Well?" he demanded.

"It was... kind of _weird_ , Sir," replied a clearly unhappy Jack.

"We specialise in weird, remember?" said the General. "What happened?"

Sam replied, "We had the wary greeting you would expect when civilians are met with USAF officers at the door, Sir. However, they invited us in, no problems.

"When Jack then mentioned we were there to talk about 'a young man named Harry Potter' it was easy to see they did not..."

Jack cut in and said, "It shocked the _Hell_ out of them, Sir."

Sam said, "The parents, Marcade and Sandra Granger, reacted with open shock, like you'd expect. However, the daughter... Hermione Granger... it was as if someone had pulled down the shutters on her emotions. Her expression just went flat and cold; as if someone had thrown a switch.

"Then she demanded right back at us, 'Why are you asking about Harry?'"

"You'll notice she referred to him as 'Harry', not Mister Potter or similar," added Jack. "Her right hand also 'combat twitched' when I mentioned Mister Potter's name, Sir. As if she had to smother an instinctive reaction to reach for a side arm."

When the general nodded, Sam continued, "They closed up on us, Sir. And the parents looked a little frightened. Not the daughter, though. That expression remained on her face for the entire remaining time we there except for when we said something that shocked her significantly enough we got to peek behind that... that..."

"Façade," said Daniel.

"Yes, façade," she nodded.

Hammond just cocked an eyebrow.

"For example," she continued, "When Jack said we knew about her and her friends going under the Old War Office building in Whitehall, London, she tensed right up; but that expression did not leave her face.

"Usually, this is the point at where someone will try to explain themselves. However, none of them did. They remained firmly silent."

"I then lied and said we knew all about it and were just wanting to know about what had hit Mister Potter," said Jack. "What happened to him at that point."

Sam added, "There was _still_ no obvious response from her _or_ her parents other than a heightened sense of fear... worry.

"I then said all four of us had a security clearance that was so high you needed to have a high security clearance to even know what ours was. And that we were only there to clarify things.

"Miss Granger simply returned, 'Your security clearance would only be American. You're referring to matters relating to _British_ security.'"

Hammond gave a light snort. "She'd be right."

"Yes, Sir," said Sam. "What I did get out of her, though, is that Mister Potter was a school friend... her _best_ friend, that they both attended a very exclusive and private school in Scotland and that they shouldn't have been where they were when, according to her, Mister Potter 'went missing'.

"She also admitted she was not in the same room as Mister Potter when whatever happened, happened. She only found out about it later."

"Other than that," said Jack. "We found out from her parents that it was apparently Harry's godfather who paid for the Grangers to relocate from England to Massachusetts. And, get this... it took a bit to get the man's name out the parents... but Potter's godfather's name is Lord Black... Lord _Sirius_ Orion Black."

That, of course, surprised the general. "That _can't_ be a coincidence," he said.

"Our thoughts, too, Sir," said Jack. Sam and Daniel nodded in agreement.

Hammond gave his own nod and slid a file across his desk to Jack. "That's the latest news we have.

"We now have a fair idea what Mister Potter did to escape. At the same time as our monitors picked up the EMP burst, Petersen picked up something on base airspace radar.

"They logged it as an 'electronic aberration'. However, the timing is exact, plus four seconds, to the burst. The location, however, is _directly_ above where Mister Potter was standing in his suite at the time the monitoring equipment was blown from the burst; and almost exactly... almost to the foot... six thousand feet above that spot.

"Immediately after appearing, the object began falling at the gravitational constant for about seven seconds before it disappeared again."

"And the camera Petersen has trained on the airspace above here?" asked Jack.

Hammond slid a photograph over. "If I hadn't seen it for myself, I'd have _never_ believed it."

Looking at the photo, though it was a photo taken from extreme range and the object on the photo was not that large, it was easy to make out that the falling object looked like a man. However, the resolution was too low to make out any details other than that.

"He _teleported_!" exclaimed Sam, seeing the image. "It's what he also must have done when we saw him on the MALP camera."

Hammond nodded and said, "That's what our people tell me is the most likely scenario. He teleported straight up six thousand feet, putting him approximately two and half thousand feet above the mountain. He's then taken a quick look around while falling, picked a spot on the ground somewhere and then teleported to that spot."

"Depending on how many times and how far he can do that, he could be anywhere on the planet by now," sighed Sam.

"Which is why I've scaled right back the search for him around the base," said the general. "I'm assured we'd be wasting our time."

"He'd head for 'Dear Ol' Blighty'," said Daniel. "It's what _I'd_ do."

"The poor man doesn't even know his aunt, uncle and cousin are dead," sighed Sam.

"We've moved to put a watch on where the house stood," said Hammond. "Just in case that's one of the places he'd head for."

"If he was abused, as the med-techs claim, he probably won't," said Jack.

"I've still moved a watcher in place, just in case," said Hammond.

"Hogwarts School for Gifted Youngsters?" asked Sam, who was reading the file.

"Yes," replied Hammond. "Intelligence has found that the school actually exists. However, the only way to contact them is, apparently, by letter sent to a Post Office address in Edinburgh, Scotland.

"Intelligence has tried to get more than that, but all they've managed to glean is that the school teaches to some high risk students and its location is concealed to all who don't need to know where it is."

Jack gave a falling whistle. "That explains why Potter was so reticent to provide information."

"It could also explain young Miss Granger's reaction, too," said Sam.

"That's too many 'maybe's for me," said Hammond. "You four are headed for Jolly Ol' England, stashed away on a 'milk run' from Petersen. Your flight leaves this afternoon."

Jack and Sam winced slightly.

A 'milk run' was the daily scheduled flights by C130s around the country and overseas of military mail and supplies. It had room for passengers, as necessary, but the facilities were quite basic.

"Contact on the ground?" asked Jack.

"You'll be notified once you reach Edinburgh, Scotland," replied the general.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

For Harry, the trip across the North Atlantic from New York to Portland, England - the first stop after a 'day stop' the day before in Cork, Ireland - was quite pleasant and relaxing. Other than 'passenger watching' and wandering about, Harry spent time in his wizard-spaced and transfigured room writing out a list of what he needed to accomplish once he was back in wizarding Britain. Knowing not to do otherwise, he only ever ate in the 'free' cafeteria and never drank alcohol.

His only surprise was when a couple of 'hotties' approached him and asked if he wanted to join them for a drink. He politely declined, telling them he was a 'tea-totaller'. The more forward of them then said, "That doesn't mean you can't buy _me_ a drink, does it?"

He politely turned them away.

At first he thought his first stop, on arriving back in Britain, would be Gringotts. He needed money. Then he realised the first thing he actually needed was _information_. He needed to know what was going on before he risked being out in the open in somewhere like Diagon Alley. Besides, he didn't trust the goblins not to have Dumbledore spies that would immediately report to the old man if he turned up; even worse, Voldemort spies. Harry could use a glamour in the Alley, but he couldn't use one in the bank.

Working on that problem he knew, even then, he still needed to take a risk. He needed back issues of the _Daily Prophet_ and to look in Flourish and Blotts for any new books that might help bring him up-to-date with how things currently stood.

He also wanted to find out what had happened to Hermione and the others. He knew she had been hurt and expected her to be dead. However, he was not going to assume, though; he was going to find out, for sure. If she was dead, then he was going to leave the country again. As far as he was concerned other than Sirius, Neville and Luna... he'd already decided to wash his hands of even Ron and Ginny, once his Occlumency had properly kicked in... they had made their bed and could _lie_ in it.

He suspected they all believed him dead, too. So he could walk away without anyone chasing after him. He'd wash his hands of the whole thing.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When SG-1 alighted from their military transport at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, England, with the exception of Teal'c they were tired and a bit grouchy. To get there, they'd been 'bounced' through Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland before the big 'hop over the pond' to England. It was still a long flight.

As soon as they alighted the aircraft, out of sight of the main base's buildings and very close to a modern hanger, they were greeted by a man wearing a bespoke three-piece suit. A woman stood at his side, a little apart and half a pace back.

As well as the suit he wore a derby-style matching hat, had both hands folded on the wooden curled handle of a closed and inverted 'matching' dark grey umbrella that rested on its silver tip on the ground between his slightly spread apart feet and Oxford lace up polished shoes. The small white carnation in his lapel and tie-matching pocket-kerchief looked a bit much though. The woman who wore a woman's suit _with pants_. She, too, was impeccably dressed and had a small purse in her off-hand.

The man gave every appearance of looking like a senior executive in a London bank. And the woman looked like she could have been his personal secretary. The only oddity was the suit pants instead of a knee length skirt.

As soon as he saw him, Jack sighed and walked closer. The other three, curious, followed.

The man was smirking back at him. "Good afternoon, Colonel," he politely said.

"Mister Steed," sighed Jack. "I should have known..."

"Yes, you should," Steed pleasantly agreed. Then he indicated the woman and said, "This is Miss Hoffstead."

As Daniel shook hands with Steed, he asked, "Have a first name?"

"It's 'Mister'," snarked Jack.

There was obviously a bit of bad blood between Jack and the Brit.

Steed ignored him and replied to Daniel, "It's John, actually. Not shortened. In full, I am Brigadier The Honourable Sir John Wickham Gascoyne Beresford Steed, KGC, MC, OM, retired.

"However, while on duty for Her Majesty's loyal government, I prefer the simple and expedient 'Mister Steed'."

After the four barely greeted Hoffstead, thinking her an aide, Steed then indicated the door of the hanger and said, "Shall we?"

Jack rolled his eyes and nodded.

Steed then led the way and Hoffstead followed at the back of the group.

As they walked along, Daniel asked Jack, "What's with the Derby?"

"This is not a _Derby_ , Doctor Jackson," sniffed Steed. "It is a _Bowler_... _Please_."

Jack just gave a snort of amusement.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At Grimmauld Place, where on no less than on a half dozen occasions Death Eaters had tried to break in over the past three years, Sirius was alerted to the floo-call chime going off.

Careful to enter the room, he had his wand drawn when he was about to peek within. "It's me, Lord Black." he heard Luna lightly call.

"Password!" he barked.

"Sirius knows Harry lives!" she immediately returned.

As he stepped into the room, Sirius said, "Luna knows Longbottom is not the Chosen One."

She smiled and immediately said, "I need five hundred pounds of muggle British currency."

Frowning in confusion slightly, Sirius said, "May I ask... _why_?"

"Of course you may!" she brightly returned. "However, I'll save you effort and tell you I need to travel by muggle means down to Portland and back. I need to pick something up."

"Why not apparate?" he asked.

"I don't want the apparation signature, or a portkey signature, recorded by the Ministry," she replied. "It's important, Sirius."

He frowned back for a moment before he gave a sigh and said, "Give me a minute." Then walked back out of the room.

Patiently, Luna just waited.

He walked back in two minutes later and handed her a stack of one hundred fifty pound notes, wrapped with a paper band with the Bank of England seal pressed across the join of the two ends.

"Thank you, Sirius," she brightly returned, slipping the entire stack into her wizard-spaced clutch-purse.

"Any hints on what you're picking up?" he tentatively asked.

"It's a surprise," she grinned. "Don't worry. You're going to _love_ it."

"So it's a gift, is it?" he asked. "You do realise you'd be buying me a gift with my own gold, right?"

"You'll forgive me!" she happily returned, before walking the couple of steps back to the fireplace.

After she tossed floo powder into the grate, called "Diagon Alley!" and disappeared through the green flames, Sirius sighed, shook his head and went back to what he was doing; more parchmentwork on the Houses of Black, Potter and Peverell finances in his home office.

One fortune was bad enough, but keeping and looking after three of them gave him never-ending quill cramp of his writing hand. The LeStrange fortune had already been merged into the Black fortune. He was just glad the Peverell fortune, for all it was, was mainly in what could loosely be termed as muggle artefacts.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It had been two and half weeks since Harry had apparated out of the SGC and he was finally back in Britain.

Relaxing, he had just stepped onto the gangway leading down off the ship to the wharf and was looking about, scanning with his eyes for trouble. At the time, he was glamoured to appear like another passenger who was actually heading to the terminus at Southampton. With an identical copy of their passport in his hand he spotted a large gaudily made sign that said 'Snorkack Expeditions'.

'Snorkacks!?' he thought. 'Only Luna...'

He couldn't see who was holding the sign, as they were holding it across their front and in such a way he could only see fingertips holding it at slightly above the middle at each end and a pair of legs from just below the crotch and down. However, from the stockings and women's shoes he could see, whoever it was, they were clearly a woman.

After passing through Customs and Immigration, with the help of a Harry-special subtle Confundus Charm on both government officers, he carefully made his way to whoever was holding the sign.

Stopping in front of them, he stood a moment, listening.

Whoever it was they were lightly humming a tune. It was a tune he remembered Luna would hum while he was teaching the DA in the Room of Requirements at Hogwarts.

He smiled and lightly knocked on the sign with his fingertips.

The person holding it suddenly stopped humming and slowly rotated the top of the sign forward.

As soon as the face came into view, he grinned and said, "Hello, Luna Lovegood."

With her own smile she returned, "Hello, Harry Potter."

Knowing he still had the glamour up, he cocked an eyebrow at her in inquisitive surprise.

"Don't worry, Harry," she said. "I knew it would be you, no matter what you were likely to look like."

Then she proceeded to begin folding the sign up until it was about the size of a deck of playing cards. Then slipped it into her clutch purse.

'Magic," he immediately thought. 'It's the only way something so large could have folded up to something so small.'

Still surprised, he asked, "You knew I was coming?"

"Yes," she replied. "I'll explain how I know that once we're in the cab and on our way back to London."

"We're taking a cab?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied, stepping to his off-hand side and hooking her right arm into his left elbow. "Escort a lady out?"

With a snort of amusement, he began to lead her off the wharf.

"Why are we taking a cab?" he quietly asked, as they walked.

"I do not trust the Ministry to keep secret the apparation and portkey signatures," she replied. " _Tom_ 's been busy."

"Ah!" he quietly returned.

Once they were at the cab pick-up point, nearly the first to reach there as he didn't have luggage to worry about, Luna had to take a minute or two to convince the 'cabbie' she really did want a cab all the way to London. She even had to show him she had the money to pay for it.

As soon as they both hopped in, Luna subtly cast a privacy ward up between the back seats and the front and a compulsion charm on the cabbie not to try to engage them in idle chatter. British cabbies were notorious for it.

Then she slipped her wand back into a disillusioned wrist holster and turned to Harry, sitting next to her.

As the cab then pulled away from the curb and into traffic she said, "Alright. Here's a quick verbal overview of what's been happening since you left. Try to hold your questions, for now. I have a small stack of scrapbooks I've been keeping since that night and I've been filling them with the information you're going to need."

"You knew I would be back? And that it would be a while?" he asked.

"Yes to both," she firmly replied. "Now, about what's been happening..."

As they were driven north towards London, Luna quietly spoke to Harry and explained matters. Harry, as he'd been told, listened. He only asked a couple of questions, to which Luna directly answered or told him was contained, in detail, in her scrapbooks. He understood her hint.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After receiving authorisation to set up a watch post in England from the British Secret Intelligence Service (BSIS), of which Steed was their representative, over the next two weeks SG-1 had visited the sites of Privet Drive and scouted out what they could of Whitehall. They'd tried to find the school in south-western Scotland, but couldn't find it. Even asking some of the 'locals' was only met with confusion.

BSIS, through Steed, gave them further information on the Dursleys and also mentioned that young Mister Potter most definitely was not in the house when it was burned to the ground.

"So, it wasn't a gas explosion?" asked Sam.

"No, Major," Steed firmly replied. "Some sort of accellerant was used to burn the house down with the deceased occupants inside. From the coroner's report it appears they were tortured before they were then killed. It is believed the house being burnt down was a method by which to erase the evidence.

"Our only confusions were why they were targeted, why they were tortured, what accellerant was used as it left no organic trace, such as petroleum... or, as you call it over the 'pond', gasoline... and whether or not the Dursleys were the actual target.

"That you are now looking into the nephew leads us to believe it was the _nephew_ who was the target. And that the Dursleys were tortured so the torturers could try to discover the location of that nephew. Care to shed any light on that?"

"We believe you're probably right?" she replied.

He smiled in amusement.

Not being an information-gathering or -security specialist, she was an astrophysicist, Carter was not an expert at dissembling her answers to keep the cover on the information.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was getting on time for dinner when Sirius's floo chimed again. Again being careful he warily approached the welcoming room with its floo.

"It's me again, Sirius," he heard Luna call.

"Password?" he barked.

"Sirius knows Harry lives!" she immediately returned.

As he stepped into the room, Sirius said, "Luna knows Longbottom is not the Chosen One."

She smiled and said, "I need to bring someone through the floo."

"Who?" he immediately demanded.

"It's the surprise I mentioned when you gave me the five hundred pounds," she returned. Then she turned a pleading look on him and said, " _Please_ , Sirius. You'll want to meet this person. I swear, they mean you no harm."

He frowned in annoyance and stepped towards her raising her wand. Just before he was about to cast, he said, "First; I'll check you for mind altering charms and potions."

She nodded, as if expecting it.

After Sirius cast his charms he lowered his wand and said, "Fine. However, no more than one, though." It spoke to the trust he had in her that he even allowed that.

She nodded back and said, "Of course." Then disappeared out through the floo again, back to the Leaky Cauldron.

As soon as the flames were out from the disconnected call, Sirius immediately opened the floo to allow only one person with an unrecorded magical signature through and then quickly transfigured up a one-person granite 'redoubt' in which to stand to defend himself from anyone coming in via the fireplace.

He'd just finished it when Luna stepped back out. Instead of giving the password, she grinned and stepped to the side.

A moment later, out stepped a man who held his hands up in the surrender gesture to show his hands without a wand in them.

Sirius looked at him in confusion as he saw Luna look at the newcomer and raise her wand to him. "Finite!" she firmly and verbally incanted.

The glamour, as it was clear to Sirius that is what it was, faded away to leave a young man standing there wearing a flat-black muggle T-shirt, plain green muggle combat pants with the hems tucked into semi-polished black muggle combat boots.

However, even then you had to look hard to see Harry; or as he remembered him to be. The black hair had faded a little, showing an underlying redness from his mother; but he still had the messy locks of a Potter. He was also deeply tanned, showing he'd spent a lot of time out in the harsh sun. The scar couldn't even be seen, even at the somewhat close distance that separated them. And he'd definitely filled out with muscles clearly rippling under the surface of that tanned skin on his arms; his torso showing the flatness of well-toned musculature beneath that T-shirt. Most apparent of all, though, _no glasses_!

Harry didn't move. Instead, he was staring at Sirius with a grin.

It took Sirius a few moments to figure out what... or, rather, _who_... he was looking at. Then his jaw dropped open and his eyes widened in frozen shock.

After Luna had dispelled his glamour, Harry watched as his godfather clearly puzzled out who he was. Then saw when the man had figured it out.

He laughed as he lowered his hands.

Sirius was so fast in wanting to reach his godson, for that was who it clearly was, the redoubt hadn't been dispelled fast enough before he was already moving forward. He tripped over what was left of the wall and landed with a thump on the floor, trying to scramble back to his feet again.

Harry had already stepped forward and helped him up, whilst still chuckling.

A moment later, he was encased in such a tight bear-hug he couldn't breathe.

Luna watched in amusement and gave Sirius about five seconds of tightly hugging his godson before she firmly said, "Sirius; release him! He can't breathe!"

Startled, Sirius flung his arms away and stepped back. And Harry bent forward, putting his hands on his knees and gasping a little.

A moment later, he said, "Whoa! That hug would _easily_ put Molly Weasley's to shame!"

As Harry straightened back up again, Sirius again stepped forward and wrapped him in another hug. However, this time it was a great deal gentler.

Sirius stood there with his godson in his arms as tears he didn't even know he was crying began to slide down his cheeks.

After Sirius had finally released his godson and wiped his tears away, he croaked. "Dobby!"

When the elf popped in he only had time to point at Harry before the little elf apparated the three feet separating them and had Harry's left thigh in such a tight grip Harry began to lose sensation in his leg.

"Oh, Master Harry!" the elf bawled. "Missy Luna sez you bes back. But, Dobby be 'shamed he not truly believe. Dobby is a _bad_ Dobby for not believesing Missy Luna! Wherez you been?"

When the elf finally released Harry leg, Harry had to stand on his right leg and lightly move his left about as he replied, " _That_ is a long story in the telling. However, I will tell it soon."

"Dobby," said Luna.

When the elf looked to her she'd said, "How about you make a start on cooking dinner? It's been a long day and Master Harry will be hungry. All three of us are."

"Yes, Missy Luna!" Dobby exclaimed before he'd disappeared with an almost silent pop.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Half an hour later all three of them were in the kitchen sitting around the table and drinking tea while Dobby was working madly away at cooking a banquet for three.

Now sitting at the kitchen table, Harry wrapped up the basic explanation as to where he'd been.

"Bloody Hell!" Sirius vehemently muttered before he turned his attention to Luna. "When you said I could 'see' Harry by walking outside at night and looking up at the star, Sirius... you weren't being all Seer-y."

"No," she calmly returned. "I was telling you _exactly_ where he was, as I said I did."

"Sorry, Luna," he apologetically returned.

"It's quite alright," she calmly said. "I already knew you wouldn't accept what I told you. That still did not mean I shouldn't have told you, though."

He gave her a nod and turned back to Harry. "So, Luna was right that the Veil of Death is actually a gate-thing that takes you to other worlds."

"Yes," he nodded. "While Luna called it an Astra Porta, the Goa'uld and Jaffa call it a Chappa'ai and the SGC call it a Stargate."

"With the last term being a near direct translation from the very early Latin 'Astria Porta'," added Luna.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After dinner, Luna reached into her clutch-purse and pulled out six large muggle scrapbooks of a size the muggles call somewhat halfway between 'A2' and 'A3' pages; 'B3'. That they came out of that little clutch-purse showed the purse to be wizard-spaced.

She then put them on the table in a stack and slid them over to in front of Harry.

"These are the six scrapbooks I told you about," she said, as Harry opened the cover of the first one. "They're in date order, from top to bottom. And, in case you accidentally mix them up, they're also numbered on the front cover.

"Read through them and I'll be handy to answer any questions you have concerning what's in them; though, I believe you shouldn't have many."

Then she turned to Sirius and said, "I'll be using my room here, if that's alright with you?"

"Of course!" Sirius replied. "I'll also have Dobby give Harry's room a once-over and dusting."

"Already done, Master Sirius!" chirped Dobby from where he was working polishing the stove.

"Do you need to head home and pack a bag, Luna?" asked Sirius.

"No, thank you," she smiled. "I have everything I need in my purse."

"What about you, Harry?" he asked.

"I have only what I'm wearing, I'm afraid," he replied. "I also have my invisibility cloak in a mokeskin space-expanded bag under a Notice-me-Not belted around my waist. It contains the Marauder's Map, too."

"I'd wondered what happened to that," smiled Sirius.

"I have a change of wizarding clothes for Harry in my purse," said Luna. "I'll have Dobby deliver them later."

Dobby turned, looked at her purse and snapped his fingers. "Theys now be in Master Harry's room, Missy Luna. As be your clothes."

"Thank you, Dobby," she said.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After spending the evening almost speed-reading through the scrapbooks Luna had provided him, stopping only to ask questions of both Luna and Sirius who were quietly talking between themselves and not-so-subtly watching him, it was late when they all finally decided to go to bed.

His biggest surprise was learning that Gellert Grindelwald was, in fact, still alive. _And_ that Sirius had secretly visited the man in the antechamber outside his cell in the prison tower complex known as Nurmengard less than twelve months ago.

Thinking about what he had read and learned, Harry hardly even paid attention to the room and how nice it was decorated before he stripped off and was in bed, asleep.

'Dumbledore's now convinced everyone Neville is the Chosen One to face Voldemort,' he thought. 'How bloody stupid is that?

'And what about Ron's behaviour? After I got my mindscape set up and was able to properly review my memories... it wasn't hard to then see that little bastard was deliberately trying to dumb me down because he was too bloody stupid to try and work hard to come up or, maybe, doing it on Dumbledore's orders.

'I'm glad Sirius got Hermione out of here, though. I'm seriously relieved she's alright. It also sounds like she's very happy in Massachusetts. I'm not really surprised she went into magical law, though. She always did have that sort of mind; coupled with her... whatchamacallit.. "outreach" beliefs to help the downtrodden.'

His last thoughts were of how normal his godfather appeared to be, clearly having regained his fitness and mental faculties; and of just how 'hot' Luna now looked. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

In her room and at the same time, Luna was readying for bed and suddenly stopped to look off into the distance. Then she smiled.

"I am, aren't I?" she murmured, glancing at her reflected image in the mirror.

"You are... _what_ , dear?" asked the mirror.

"Good looking," she replied, running her magical brush through her hair.

The mirror scoffed and said, "You sound like young Bella."

Luna grinned. In her mind, though, she'd be getting rid of the mirror. She actually didn't like mirrors that talked back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning Harry was up and had headed for the kitchen. It still felt weird having a proper kitchen to cook with and not having to rely so much on transfiguring food to eat.

He'd headed there with the intent to cook, but Dobby was already cooking and had a plate of a 'Full-English' before him just as he sat down.

"Thank you, Dobby," he said to the elf.

As he was eating he asked, "How has it been working for Master Sirius?"

"It has been good, Master Harry," replied the elf. "But Dobby is _very_ happy Master Harry is back."

"What happened to Kreacher?" he asked.

Dobby scowled and replied, "Kreacher was a very _baaaaad_ elf. Kreacher did lie to Master Harry about Master Sirius not beings here when Master Harry did floo-call. Kreacher was trying to get Master Harry killed, going to... _Deh-part-ment_ of Mysties. Master Sirius did kills him for... be- _tray_ -all of House Black. Kreacher dids die with... dishonour."

"Ah!" said Harry. "But, you like it here?"

"Master Sirius be good master," replied the elf. "But, Master Harry be _bestest_ master."

With a sigh, Harry thought, 'Well, looks like I'm stuck with Dobby, after all.'

He'd been hoping to convince the elf to stay with Sirius. They were obviously good for one another.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Sirius was next down, only about fifteen minutes later. And Luna was down about five minutes after that.

At the time, Harry had finished his breakfast and didn't even have a chance to take his dishes to the sink before Dobby popped them away.

Instead, he was again going through the scrapbooks, looking more closely at some of the information within. There were a few issues he wanted to speak with Luna and Sirius about that wasn't included. This time, though, he was writing things down.

At his request, Dobby brought parchment, quill and ink just as an owl flew in with the latest issue of the _Daily Prophet_.

When it looked like the other two had finished the food portions of their breakfasts and were just sipping their teas, Harry said, "Let me see if I can give the highlights, here."

Luna nodded.

"For the Ministry: Fudge resigned, probably minutes before he was going to be fired by the Wizengamot when it was discovered Umbridge had sent the dementors after me at Privet Drive. They were able to learn that because _someone_ had tipped off Bones that she... Umbridge, that is... was a half-blood, not the pureblood she claimed to be; and was therefore not able to claim immunity to being dosed with Veritaserum. Fudge disappeared while Umbridge went to jail for life for both the attempted murder of me and the use of the Cruciatus curse on Minerva McGonagall.

"As a result of all that had happened, besides Sirius here duelling Riddle in the atrium of the Ministry _and_ being seen doing so by over two dozen people, Sirius was properly trialled and exonerated of all charges. Everyone finally accepted I'd been telling the truth and were then feeling mighty guilty about that and the Ministry finally got off their collective arses and started to switch to a war footing. Other than Bellatrix LeStrange, the six Death Eaters who were at the Ministry that night who were all escapees from Azkaban all got kissed and then tossed through the Veil.

"I can tell you they didn't arrive on Hadrian with me, though.

"Riddle claimed, at the time, that Sirius had just killed Bella LeStrange and, as no one's seen her since, that seems to have been verified. The other six, including Lucius Malfoy, were all sent to Azkaban for life based on Priori Incantatem being used on their wands and showing they'd _all_ at least once used the Killing or Cruciatus curses. Bones was the driving force of all of that.

"For Dumbledore: The old man did _not_ get reinstated as the Chief Warlock or Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, but did manage to get the Headmaster's slot back. He's then had to do his damnedest to just keep his job and was ordered by the new Minister, Bones, to keep his nose out of Ministry business. She's kept doing that right up until now.

"Even so, Dumbledore's managed to convince Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, that Neville is the prophecised one to defeat Riddle. And then immediately began to organise specialised training for the boy using Mad-Eye Moody, Professor Flitwick and himself to teach him. Neville, after breaking his father's wand in the Ministry that night, got a new wand. With the new wand he immediately started to show he's actually got bucket-loads of magical reserves, which Dumbledore used to confirm Neville is the new 'golden boy'. Instead, it's the simple fact the boy now has a wand that actually matches him... rather than his father's, which didn't... that is the answer. I'm left wondering if Neville using his father's wand was something preplanned by Dumbledore."

"No," said Luna. "However, it didn't stop him from using that happenstance to his own advantage."

"For his Order of the Basted Turkey: The old man's also managed to build up the Order to about thirty strong; but lost Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Shacklebolt, Vance and Jones very soon after Voldemort became known to be alive. Due to Bones, while still Head of the DMLE at the time, telling them they could either be aurors or members of the Order, not both, that took out Tonks, Shacklebolt, Vance and Jones. The new Head of the DMLE, Rufus Scrimgeour, ratified that order and, after he was killed a couple months later, his replacement, Constance Hammer, _re_ -ratified it. Sirius and Remus quit because Dumbledore failed to keep his promise to protect me and it was shown Dumbledore had made no effort to get Sirius his trial, as promised. However, Remus and Tonks rejoined about six months later with Bones's secret blessing, but both are actually Sirius's spies in the Order.

"So far, you know... of those I know from school... the Weasley twins, Ron, Ginny, Neville of course, Angie Johnston, Alicia Spinnet, Shay Finnegan and a few others have since joined the Order. However, Shay, Ernie MacMillan, Kevin Entwhistle and Stephen Cornfoot have been killed. Since then, the twins, Angie Johnson and Alicia Spinnet have quit, due to what they believe... and I agree... are Dumbledore's direct orders they were to only stun or otherwise incapacitate any Death Eaters they managed to face.

"There's also been a swag of others, all muggle-born, who've been attacked in their homes and killed by Death Eaters. That kept happening until Bones finally got permission from the Wizengamot, _after_ the fact for many of them, of giving each muggle-born an emergency portkey to Saint Mungo's. She then started to also give them to the half-bloods.

"Riddle won't attack, or allow any of his thugs to attack, Saint Mungo's because he believes - rightly, according to Luna - that the Healer's Collegiate would ban all Healers applying any aid to a marked Death Eater through their Bonham Oaths of medical aid. They threatened him with that back in the first war and it worked as well then as it does now.

"The Order comes across as being successful in driving Riddle and his Death Eaters away when they turn up, but Luna says it's because Riddle knows of the prophecy now and doesn't want to be anywhere within the vicinity of Neville. He doesn't want to 'mark' him, thereby making him possibly the one mentioned in the prophecy. He thinks if he marks him, or one of his Death Eaters does it as his 'hand', then it will make the prophecy 'active' again.

"That's crap, because I've already figured out it was me; and my name was on the little card under the prophecy orb. However, Riddle's not taking any chances.

"As a result of Riddle and his Death Eaters always running away when Neville turns up, just in case one of them accidentally ' _marks_ ' him, the sheep now think it's true Neville is the Chosen One; plus, many think Neville has apparently turned into something of a big-headed arrogant idiot as a result, which is not actually true; it's what's others have been pushing to promote, though... probably on Riddle's orders.

"For my supposed friends: Ron Weasley, who claimed to always be _my_ best mate... though I now know different... has latched himself onto Neville and is now claiming _Neville_ is his best mate. Ginny, where she used to claim she was always going to marry _me_ , is now claiming she will be marrying _Neville_ once Neville has 'managed to pin Riddle down so he can kill him'. Hermione is in Massachusetts and keeps in semi-regular contact with Sirius, but no one else. And Luna is the only one who's stayed true. Even the Twins have backed right off and have even stopped paying gold into the Potter vaults as my share of their business."

"I told them to do that, Harry," said Sirius. "They've _more_ than paid back what you originally gave them - five fold."

Harry nodded and continued, "Of what is known of Riddle and his flunkies: Besides always immediately apparating or portkeying away when Neville turns up on Dumbledore's heels, they've still managed to do a lot of harm; those muggle-borns and half-bloods being the most affected. However, after Riddle broke his so-called faithful out of Azkaban that first Christmas after I went through the Chappa'ai in the DoM, four of those who were sent to prison based on that night are dead during attempted assassinations of Bones, trying to break into here or through attacking other wizarding homes such as the Luna's and the Greengrasses'. All such places having war wards up, which Dumbledore later railed against as being inhuman and... _dark!_ Even going so far as demanding Luna's father, Xenophilius, for one pull them down. Which he didn't do. It's currently believed Malfoy and Dolohov are the only two of that night still alive.

"Unsurprisingly, there have been sightings of the Ferret, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle and a few others from Slytherin who have joined Riddle's side. Surprises to _me_ , though, are those like Michael Corner from Ravenclaw.

"During the breakout, Umbridge was also freed but apparently killed by either Riddle or one of his flunkies a few days later; tortured to death. Forgive me if I'm not bothered by that in the slightest. So, too, was Snape; but he's believed to still live.

"While Dumbledore had raced to the prison to help, though his presence was both not required or appreciated by Scrimgeour, someone managed to get into Hogwarts and kidnap Trelawney. From that, it's believed that's how Riddle now knows the full prophecy.

"Dumbledore, closing the gate after the horse had already bolted, strengthened the wards at Hogwarts to block those with ill intent towards the students and staff. Then was utterly shocked when about half the Slytherins, a quarter of the Ravenclaws and a few each from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff got ejected at the gate when the Express arrived to bring the students back after the Christmas break. Utterly surprising to me... and, apparently, quite a few others... he didn't pull those new wards down again.

"No," said Luna. "And the Board and the Minister refused to allow him to. They also threatened to immediately strip him of the post of Headmaster if he still went ahead and did it, replacing him with someone who'd be ordered to put them right back up again."

"Which is probably the only reason he didn't," nodded Harry.

"Then there's the issue of Horcruxes: Almost immediately after I went through that really old version of the Chappa'ai you, Sirius, together with the goblins figured out Riddle had made Horcruxes. Luna believes there are... or was... _seven_ of them. They were; the diary, the cup, the locket, the ring, the diadem, my scar and one other. Of those, I destroyed the diary in my second year at Hogwarts and Sirius has had the phylacteries of the cup, the locket, the ring and the diadem stripped of _their_ soul fragments. The fragment behind my scar was destroyed while I was in the wormhole between Earth and Hadrian; I know that, now. The 'one other', according to Luna, I will destroy 'soonish'. The Horcruxes are also how Riddle managed to remain tethered to this plane of existence and was revivified at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"For Riddle to actually die that last Horcrux will also have to be stripped from its phylactery or the phylactery is to be destroyed. Luna believes I will destroy the phylactery, thereby destroying the Horcrux within it, just as I did with the diary in second year.

"You also know Dumbledore knows about the Horcruxes because you had a hidden alert and recording ward attached to the Gaunt shack in Little Hangleton; and the recording ward picked up that Dumbledore went there the summer after I disappeared, looking for something."

"It _had_ to be the phylactery," said Sirius. "There was nothing else there. Even the shack was a collapsing ruin."

"Which means he's probably also gone looking for the others," nodded Harry.

"And he's been constantly on my back to be allowed back in here," added Sirius, "Because, as he claims, he's left something behind in here and only he can search for it. He was utterly shocked when I told him the place was completely stripped out, scrubbed clean and rebuilt. Then he demanded to know what happened to what was here before that.

"I used the excuse of forcing Kreacher to strip it all out, as punishment, before I killed the little... thing... to tell him I didn't know and didn't _want_ to know what he did with it all. That caused the old man to almost completely panic."

"Thereby confirming that Dumbledore has to be hunting for the phylacteries," nodded Harry. "It must frustrate him, no end, to know someone has either beaten him to them or they've become utterly lost to him."

He then sighed, leaned right back in his chair and carded his fingers through his hair. "I bet the bastard has known about them for years before I went through the Chappa'ai; and was probably waiting for _me_ to hunt them down and destroy them."

"That was exactly what he was doing, Harry," said Luna. "Dumbledore figured out there were Horcruxes involved once he figured out the truth about the diary. He'd had it confirmed that Riddle had made either three or seven of them that summer.

"After you went through the _Astra Porta_... your Chappa'ai... he mind-raped Professor Slughorn for the truth of how many there actually was, seven; as Slughorn was the one who gave Riddle the answer that one shouldn't attempt to make any _more_ than seven."

"Here's an idea," said Harry, still leaning back. "How about we grab Remus and Tonks and, with us three, we head for that island Sirius stayed at during my fourth year to recover. At the moment, as far as I feel, the whole naffing lot of them can go kill themselves off.

"The trouble is, though, Riddle and his Death Eaters are eventually going to go one step too far with the muggles and this little civil war of magical Britain is going to go global; with the muggles coming in and wiping _everyone_ out.

"I mean... bloody hell... in the United Kingdom alone there are over _one million_ active military service personnel across four different branches of armed services. And you can add to that another one hundred and twenty _thousand_ active police. If the muggles get serious and decide enough is enough, wizarding Britain won't last a week! Once they do that the rest of the muggle world's combat and police forces are going to descend, _en masse_ , on their own magical communities.

"I have no idea just how large those magical communities are, but I really don't give them all that much longer than the week I give wizarding Britain."

"A little longer than that, Harry," said Luna. "However, the muggles won't find everyone. Twenty years later the magical world will rise up, once more, and try to take back everything they'd lost. This time, however, there'll be no winners. The world will be destroyed."

" _Greeeaaatt_..." moaned Harry. "So we can't just run for the island, either."

"No," she replied.

With another sigh, Harry sat back forward and said, "Alright, Luna. You seem to know what is going on. How about you tell us what I need to do next."

She smiled and said, "I cannot tell you much as the knowing of something _changes_ that something; and, in this case, not for the better.

"Can you See a future where I win and manage to get rid of Riddle for good?" he asked.

"Many such futures," she replied with a smile. "If anything, there are _far_ more such futures than futures where you would lose. Those latter ones, where I can, I am actively blocking by changing things so they won't happen."

"Any of them where I finally get all this behind me, marry, have kids, that sort of thing?"

Her smile widened into a grin. "You're going to make a _great_ daddy."

Sirius laughed. "Name one after _me_ , pup!"

With a smirk, Harry wryly said, "I think calling a child of mine _'Snuffles'_ would see them growing up to kill me."

Sirius lost it to sudden renewed laughter and almost fell out of his chair. Luna just giggled.

Behind her giggles she thought, 'No, but James Sirius will be our first. Probabilities currently lean towards Henry Remus being our second.'

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After a day of rest, where Harry met - or, _re_ -met - an utterly shocked Remus and Tonks when Sirius called them to the townhouse, the next day Luna and Harry headed for Diagon Alley. Luna had told him he needed to go to the bank to take care of finances. Sirius wanted to join them, but Luna told him he needed to remain behind, this trip. Surprising Harry, Sirius didn't try to fight that.

Harry thought Sirius was doing a wonderful job of stewarding his finances, but Luna replied, "You need to go in, Harry. There are things that Sirius cannot do for you that you need to take care of, yourself. Besides, you also need to go and purchase for yourself a whole new wardrobe. What I got for you is only one outfit."

The robes Luna had purchased in advance were simple flat black in light linen, similar to Hogwarts robes. However, they lacked the crest. Actually, besides being very comfortable lightweight unarmoured 'combat' robes with an open front similar to what Snape wore while teaching, but with looser sleeves, there was nothing extraordinary about them.

She'd also purchased for him a decent pair of thin silk gloves with a non-slick palm side of acromantula silk; the acromantula silk palms, she explained, were to allow him to maintain an organic connection with his wand. He appreciated them as, while the robes had built-in comfort charms, those comfort charms did not extend to the hands or feet. The gloves had them, though.

For footwear, he kept the boots for now and Sirius applied temporary comfort charms to them. When he was standing still you could hardly see them due to the hang of the robes, but they became far more apparent when he moved.

For shits and giggles and because it amused him, he used a strong intent-based charm to charm the robes to have them billow as he walked, à la Snape.

When Luna saw him wearing them with the light billowing, she looked at him with a smirk and knowing expression. Sirius, after seeing him walk in them, laughed himself to a red face and tears; then declared them, "Brilliant!"

As a final touch, Luna handed him a wizard's hat, but of a style Harry was happy with. It had a narrower brim and lower pointed peak than the one he wore on Hadrian, which was a slightly smaller copy of the Sorting Hat and was quite comfortable. He'd already seen that his scar was much more reduced, but still stood out a little as the thin scar that remained did not tan as well as the rest of his face. Instead of being an angry red welt that stood out on his pale skin, it was now a thin feint pale line on tanned skin; almost the visual negative of what it once was. The hat and brim did an admirable job of hiding it.

"How do I look?" he asked her after donning it and checking himself out in the mirror.

"Perfect," she replied. "Just... perfect."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With his wand in his handmade holster made of lizard rat skin - magically cured and made at Safe Haven on Hadrian - on his left wrist, properly attired and ready to go Harry and Luna stepped through the floo to Diagon Alley.

It had been years since Harry had been to the place so he, of course, was quite curious how the ongoing 'low-boil' undeclared war was doing to the main shopping area of wizarding Britain. Stepping through into the Leaky Cauldron, so far it seemed nothing had changed other than there being a lot less patrons and old Tom acting a lot more wary. Harry was just happy to see the man was currently still alive.

"Come on, Love," said Luna, immediately leading him out the back door.

For security, Sirius had suggested Harry be called 'Hardwin', his many times great grandfather's name and his true birth name. Luna just smirked at it and replied, "He'll have to use his _known_ name in Gringotts."

However, she was willing to go ahead with it by calling Harry 'Love' or 'Hardwin' just to appease the older man.

Once the bricks of the magical arch were tapped, opening the way into the Alley, Luna confidently led Harry down the very slight slope of the cobble-stoned street and to the bank.

As he stepped onto the main door sill/step, still on Luna's heels, Harry dispelled the slight glamour he was wearing. He didn't want to give the goblins - 'Nasty little buggers, they are', whispered in his mind in Hagrid's voice - any excuse to harm him.

Luna then led him to one of the few vacant tellers.

Once the one they were standing before looked up and across the counter at her, Luna greeted it. "Good morning, Honoured Teller."

"What do you want, young witch," the goblin sneered.

Harry frowned at the clear disrespect.

She turned to Harry and, gesturing him forward, quietly said, "Harry?" She'd said it quietly enough not to be overheard by the other few witches and wizards in the bank.

Already reaching into his mokeskin pouch and withdrawing his little gold key, Harry stepped up, calmly placed the key on the counter and said, "Harry Potter. Here to see the Potter Account Manager."

"Have you made an appointment?" the goblin demanded.

"If I need one tell the so-called current Account Manager, who would now be the _previous_ Account Manager, that he's fired," returned Harry. "Then tell the new Account Manager, who I will _not_ need an appointment to see, that I need to see him immediately."

The goblin looked back in ill-concealed surprise for a moment before he grinned and said, "One moment." He then wrote on a slip of parchment with an ink-dipped old gnarled root, folded the slip in half and dropped it down a slot in the counter on his side.

Once done, he indicated a spot on the floor behind Harry and, with a shoo gesture, instructed, "Go wait over there, wizard."

Harry gave a nod back and moved to the indicated spot, leading Luna with him. She called back in a sing-song voice, "Thank you, Honoured Teller!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was only five minutes later, with Harry's eyes never stopping looking around while searching for threats, before a younger goblin than the teller approached and quietly said, "This way, Mister Potter." He then, without waiting for Harry to respond, spun about and walked towards the back wall of the bank.

From a previous visit years earlier, Harry remembered there being doors back there. And that a couple he'd not recognised, but were dressed in upmarket clothes, were walking out of at the time.

Leading them, the goblin led them directly to that door. It opened on his approach and he never even broke stride as he led Harry and Luna through it.

Less than a minute and a half later, after Harry noticed there were confusion and befuddlement magics at work on he and Luna as they walked down the corridors, they came to one of many doors; but this one differed in that the name carved on the metal plate in block capitals and affixed to the middle of the door at about lower-chest height said POTTER.

The young goblin leading them opened the door and gestured them within. Harry led the way. However, the young goblin did not follow them within. Instead, he pulled the door shut, closing himself out.

The new goblin sitting behind the big desk at the other end of the room barked, " _And just where... in Gornack's name... have_ you _been, Mister Potter?_ "

"On a planet orbiting the star known as Sirius A in the _Canis Majoris_ constellation," Harry flatly returned.

The old goblin looked back for a long moment in what Harry thought was shock, before he suddenly roared with laughter. Finally, he said, "I've heard some tall tales, Mister Potter; but that one drinks the mead."

Based on the goblin's behaviour, he didn't know whether to tell him it was the truth or not. Instead, he said, "Obviously you've been looking for me. What do _you_ need, before we get to what _I_ need?"

Gesturing to the two chairs before his desk, the goblin said, "Come. Sit."

As the two moved and sat in the chairs, the old goblin continued, "We have much to do. While Lord Black has taken Regency of House Potter and it is safe, nothing much has been done about the other."

'Other?' Harry thought.

As soon as both humans sat the goblin, whom Harry learned was named 'Hooknose' from the nameplate on the desk, launched into it.

"Lord Black rightfully claimed Regency of the House of Potter only a few days after that business in the Department of Mysteries," he said. "The wizard, Albus Dumbledore, also tried to claim it by claiming _he_ was your magical guardian. He was shocked to discover I both knew he wasn't and promptly laughed at him.

"I, of course, denied it of him. I had to throw him out, as he annoyed me when he tried to push it."

Then, together, they got into what needed to be done.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	6. Hardwin Peverell

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Six - Hardwin Peverell**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The resultant discussion about what his Account Manager, Hooknose, needed from him and what he needed from his Account Manager took longer than Harry thought it would; far longer.

The other financial business he accomplished while there was to organise money be 'snuck' into the muggle bank accounts of those he owed during his trip from Colorado back to Britain and promised himself he'd recompense. He even figured out a decent payment to the Norwegian Cruise company who owned the liner on which he travelled between New York and England, for the cost of the food and the 'rent' on the utility compartment.

The goblin thought it was a prank, but he promised to get it done. Harry truly didn't care if he did or didn't think it a prank; just got it done.

Harry also needed to accept Headship of House Potter from Sirius, but left him as Steward for the House in case something happened to him. Further, he also had to take control of the _Peverell_ Account - wasn't that a surprise, as neither Sirius nor Luna had told him about it - and also accept the Heir's position for the House of Black. That led to him having to don three rings - Lord of Potter, Lord of Peverell and Heir of Black. Thankfully, they weren't that bulky, even though they looked like they were.

Once the parchmentwork was all done, he was handed a copy of the Potter and Peverell account books. He handed those off to Luna, who slipped them into her clutch-purse for him.

Next, he took a trip down to the vaults. He didn't have a vault for Black - as he was now Head of House Potter, he didn't receive a stipend from the Black accounts - and Sirius had dumped a whole lot of galleons into the vault as a lump sum one-off 'payment'. So he first headed for the Potter vaults.

Seeing everything that was in there was a real eye-opener. He had no idea the Potter family was a wealthy one. However, he was informed the Potters had made their fortunes through Potions - such as Skele-Gro, Pepper-Up and, 'lately', Sleek-Ezy - and through careful and very clever investments of the capital in both the wizarding world and muggle.

He took well over a thousand galleons and was converting even more to muggle British pounds so he could buy muggle clothing.

He was then going to bypass the Peverell vault, but Luna told him it was important he visit it.

When the vault was opened he was expecting piles of gold, weaponry, old documents, that sort of thing; just like the Potter vault. That is not what he was greeted with on the cart goblin opening the vault.

Instead, there were a couple of piles of gold off to one side that seemed to be about a few hundred thousand worth. However, the major find was the _Goa'uld_ artefacts. They occupied a table, lined right down the middle of the vault like a set of trestle tables.

He stopped and stared in stunned amazement.

"Harry," said Luna, trying to get his attention.

When he finally looked at her she indicated a letter sitting on the end of the closest table and at the vault door end. "I believe that's for you," she said.

When he picked it up it was addressed to ' _Our Heir_ '.

Frowning in confusion he opened it out and read it.

It was difficult to read, considering it used many letters that had changed shape since the days of the Peverells; and the style of writing was also quite different. However, with a bit of effort and concentration, he was able to 'decipher' it. After the first paragraph it became easier.

The letter stated the artefacts left on the table had been recovered from archaeological 'digs' in the middle east, especially around Egypt. And that the earlier Peverells made their fortune from tomb raiding before Gringotts got in on the act.

Each of the artefacts, according to the earlier Peverells, after detection charms were cast on them showed them to have been made of metals and metal composites not found anywhere else on Earth. And that the Peverells had made it part of their lifes' work to collect them. Accordingly, they never sold one single item of 'this particular type' and even purchased them off other tomb raiders both on the hidden (black) market and from museums around the world.

When he finished reading the letter he quietly muttered a heartfelt, " _Daaammnnn!_ " and refolded the letter. He didn't realise he'd done so, but had handed the letter to Luna. His mind was on what the letter contained and already on what was on the trestle tables. She simply dropped it into her clutch-purse without a word.

He then made his way down the side of the nearest table, taking note of what was written on the little cards attached to each, immediately recognising many of the devices or objects and could see the Peverells were quite close on what they were. The only major difference of opinion between his own and that of the Peverells was that the Peverells believed they belonged to what they called 'The Ancients', while Harry knew them to be called 'The Goa'uld'.

Apparently, they believed a race of people, similar to humans but were also 'starfarers' who once colonised Earth, for whatever reason simply left again; leaving the dregs and detritus of their society behind. The Peverells believed they'd intended to return, but never did.

Another surprise was that the Peverells further believed that those Ancients who'd remained on Earth while the vast majority of the rest of their civilisation left, eventually mated with the then 'first' humans who were showing themselves to be tool users and had intelligence. The Peverells posited that magic came from the Ancients and, together with mixing their blood (DNA) into the human race, brought forth the first true wizards and witches.

To Harry, it bore a lot of thinking. However, it was something to deal with later.

For now, he had at least his three main 'devices' back: The _kara kesh_ , the _hajar alshifa'_ healing device and, if he wanted it, a staff weapon.

Looking to the staff weapons leaning against the back wall, he picked up the first and tried to activate it. Nothing happened. Then he moved to the next. It worked. And, when he activated it, the escort goblin jumped in shock. However, Luna merely grinned back.

She calmly said, "Sorry, Harry. That's too big for me to slip into my purse."

Distractedly as he was focussed on what he was doing and looking upon, he deactivated it again, put it back against the wall and checked the third and last. It had a charge but he could already tell it was quite weak. As with the other two, he returned it to its spot on the wall.

He then walked back up the table and took a gold _kara kesh_ , one of the _hajar alshifa'_ devices - which he handed to Luna to slip into her clutch - and slipped a second one into his pocket. Finally, he picked up a Zat'nik'tel. It showed to be almost fully charged.

He'd had one he'd taken off Imhotep but, like his _kara kesh_ , _hajar alshifa'_ and staff weapon, the SGC had taken it from him. He did not realise how much he'd missed it, plus the others, until now.

He quickly slipped the _kara kesh_ onto his left hand and up his wrist, then checked it still worked. Not wanting to use the offensive capabilities he knew it held, he only tried a shield. And it worked as if it was brand new. Grinning, he moved onto the next.

By the time he was finished he had the _kara kesh_ on his left hand and wrist and under a Notice-me-Not, the _hajar alshifa'_ in his pocket and the Zat'nik'tel under another Notice-me-Not on his off-hand hip on his belt.

Looking up and grinning at Luna, he saw she was smiling back.

She asked, "Ready to go?"

"Oh, yes," he returned. "You knew, didn't you." It wasn't inflected like a question.

"Yes," she nodded, then flicked a quick glance at the goblin.

Harry understood the hint. She was even reticent for the goblins to know of her Seer ability. He actually felt honoured she was happy for him to know.

"Alright, then," he suddenly said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Let's go get some shopping done."

She smiled and took his left elbow as they walked out, ignoring the now open-to-everyone vault. The escorting cart goblin, behind them, just shook his head in exasperation for leaving the vault open and, after sealing the vault back up, joined them back in the cart.

Back to the surface, please," said Luna as the goblin hopped back in and into the single front seat.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Back on the surface, Harry went across to one of the vacant counters and had about a third of the gold he'd pulled from his Potter vault converted into Pounds Sterling. He was surprised to see the conversion was now at about 1:5.2 Galleons to Pounds. It was at about 1:4.9 three years earlier. He was also surprised to learn there was no conversion fee going that way, as the goblins were happy to get rid of the muggle notes. He thought he conversion fee going 'this' way, though, was still quite steep.

"Anything else, Lord Potter?" asked the goblin, after sliding the notes over.

"Not at this time, no," replied Harry.

"Then step back," said the goblin.

Once ready and with his new wizard-spaced and blood-locked coin pouch hanging alongside his wizard-spaced mokeskin pouch, he turned to Luna and asked, "Ready?"

She was looking out the front main doors at the time and lightly frowning.

She turned back and calmly replied, "You go, Harry. I have one more thing I need to speak with the goblins about."

He gave a nod and said, "I'll meet you at Madam Malkin's." Then he gave her a quick hug before walking to the doors.

Behind him, Luna stepped to the counter and quietly said, "You need to let Axe Lord Ragnok know that wizards in the Alley are lying in wait for your customers to step out the doors. If they are not careful, you will have spell-fire in the lobby, here."

The goblin instantly frowned back for a moment before he quickly scribbled out a note and slid it into the slot on his side of the counter. Then he turned back and nodded to her.

"Thank you, Honoured Teller," she nodded. "May you find gold for the taking, lying at your feet."

Then she headed for the doors, but did not to step through them. She needed to stand out of people's way and in a place of concealment, the change in lighting between outside and in was enough for the latter, and watch what was happening outside.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry had just stepped out through the doors and was standing on the bottom step of the bank, looking about for any threats, when such threats suddenly turned up.

Quickly stepping out from both sides of the street while focused on him, he saw nearly a dozen or so wizards and witches move to stand in the middle of the Alley. All of them, bar one – Dumbledore - had their wands drawn and were holding them loosely pointing down. They then formed a bit of a wall, twenty five feet away from him, blocking the Alley in two ranks. The twenty five feet separation was the unofficially accepted minimum duelling range of wizards and witches; Jaffa, too, when they got that close.

Harry mentally groaned, but didn't move. As he was standing on the steps of Gringotts, he was in goblin sovereign territory. Luna had told him that. He did not believe this lot would try anything, just as long as he was standing there or further back.

Mentally sighing, he could identify nearly all of them. Dumbledore, front rank in the middle and slightly forward; Neville Longbottom about a pace apart and half a pace back to his right; Ronald Weasley, to Neville's right and a pace and a half apart; then Ginny Weasley, with the same spacing. To Dumbledore's left stood Mad-Eye Moody, a pace back and two apart; then someone who looked like a boy, now a man, he remembered as in the year in Gryffindor above him, a pace and a half apart; then another adult he didn't recognise. In the second row, off-set from the front row, he saw Elphias Doge, still wearing that silly cravat; a furtive Mundungus Fletcher, obviously and clearly not wanting to be there; Daedalus Diggle with his purple top hat; but, off to his - Harry's - left and in the back row he saw Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. Tonks was standing real close to Remus and, while keeping an eye on Harry, was whispering something into Remus's ear. 'Yup, twelve,' thought Harry.

As soon as he and Remus made eye contact, Remus quickly glanced around to see if anyone of the Order was watching him, then gently raised his off hand with the palm down and made two quick shoo'ing gestures and mouthed, 'Go back inside'.

Harry smirked and, looking away, quickly and only slightly shook his head.

In that couple of seconds, Harry also saw that everyone else in the Alley had stopped to watch. "Bloody idiots,' he thought. 'They should either realise trouble was afoot and bolted, or run into one of the shops to demand the aurors be called.' He didn't see even one of them do that.

'At least they're smart enough not to get directly behind Dumbledore and his flunkies or, worst still, move through the gap between them and me.

After a few seconds had passed while none of the main players moved, Dumbledore's expression had changed to one of irritation. Clearly he expected Harry to do something, or at least _say_ something.

"Young man," the old coot finally said. "Who do you _think_ you are to have demanded audience with the Potter Account Manager?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow back. "Well!" he suddenly said. "It appears I need to have words with Gringotts' management about client confidentiality."

 _That_ clearly irritated the old man. 'Yeah, he's paying a goblin off to feed him specific information. One, at least, would be concerning anyone coming in and talking about the Potter accounts.'

"I must ask you, again," said the old man. "Who―"

" _Must_ ask me again?" asked Harry, cutting Dumbledore off. Something he knew which really got under the old man's skin. "It sounds like someone has you under a compulsion charm, old man. You might want to get that looked into."

While Dumbledore barely reacted except to frown a little harder, Ron Weasley shouted back, "Who do you think you are, _dark_ wizard, to ask questions of Albus Dumbledore? If you're trying to get into the Potter―"

" _Do_ shut up, Mister Weasley," Harry cut in, cutting the red head off. "Just looking at your face makes me want to vomit. I do not need you _compounding_ the problem by opening that maw you call your mouth and spruiking bullshit."

As Ron stood gaping back, Harry saw Nymphadora's hair turned red and she had to slide behind Remus to hide the fact she'd started giggling. Harry could tell by the shaking of her shoulders.

"Besides," smirked Harry. "Aren't you the one who, as soon as Harry Potter went through that Veil of Death thing, you helped yourself to his personal effects; _including_ his very expensive Firebolt?"

Ron's expression changed from one of shock to one of embarrassment then to one of anger in only a couple of seconds.

That's when Harry felt the tickle on his Occlumency shields. His first line of defence, a self operating beater's bat, firmly whacked the probe as if with a cricket bat stroking for a 'six'.

Dumbledore flinched hard back.

Harry turned his attention back to the old man and said, "Now, now, Albie-my-boy. Using unpermitted Legilimency on another is grounds for having your arse sent to Azkaban. What a terribly _daaaarrrk_ thing to do!"

Getting angrier Ron finally blurted, "It's _you_ , who's the _dark_ wizard! You're clearly one of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters. You've just taken your mask off, is all!"

"Mister Weasley!" barked Dumbledore in an aside. "E-nough!" He never took his eyes off Harry, though.

"Thank you, Albie," said Harry, smirking. "I see the sound of his voice makes _you_ want to vomit, too."

Ron was now almost trembling in suppressed rage, wanting to shout back, but he held his tongue.

Harry looked to the young man and grinned. "Yes, be a good little _pawn_ , Mister Weasley; a good doggy-minion. If you're a good boy, Albie might give you a doggy treat later. You'll have to sit up and beg for it, though."

Ron looked like he was going to disobey the old man until Dumbledore snapped a quiet, "Stay silent!" at the boy. Then he quickly turned back to Harry, ready to say something.

However, before he could, Harry looked to Neville.

"And here we have the famous Neville Longbottom; the backup so-called _Chosen One_. How does it feel to be Dumbledore's _second_ choice, Mister Longbottom? Of course, he only came to you when he supposedly got his _first_ choice killed."

Longbottom's expression went to the near-instant flatness of Occlumency shields gone up full.

Then, before Neville could say anything, if he was about to, Harry had already turned back to Dumbledore. "I hope you're now taking better care of your little _pawns_ , since then, Albie. Or, do you consider Nevvy to be a... _bishop_ perhaps? Is that why he's tucked in close to your side? Just like a bishop to your... _queen_?"

As Neville frowned and began to move away, Dumbledore said, "Stay where you _are_ , Mister Longbottom." And Neville moved back.

"Oooh... you've got your little bishop trained _well_ , Albie," snarked Harry. "You must be giving him _plenty_ of doggy treats. You do make sure he eats them, don't you? I wouldn't put it past Thief Weasley to steal them and shove them into his _own_ gob."

He now had both Ron and Neville flushing red in anger.

Behind Ron and Ginny, Harry saw Remus looking back with a barely concealed smirk and cocked eyebrow. He'd also stopped trying to gesture for Harry to go back inside the bank.

Dumbledore, finally seeing his spot to speak out and look grand while doing it, snapped, "Young man, who _ever_ you are, I must insist you stop this, _at once_!"

"You do, do you?" asked Harry. "Well, then; go ahead!"

With a sudden look of confusion, Harry saw the old man was stumped.

Harry sighed and almost perfectly mimicked Dumbledore's own 'I'm so disappointed in you' pose and voice inflection while doing it. "Very well! _Insist!_ "

"Errrr..." said the old man.

Harry rolled his eyes and, in an 'I'm explaining this to a small child' voice, explained, "You said you must insist something, though it sounds like yet _another_ compulsion charm in effect on you. So, go ahead and _insist_."

Frustrated and angry again when he worked out what Harry meant, Dumbledore gestured a wave-off with his off hand and said, "Very well. I _insist_ you stop this, at once!"

" _That's_ how you do it, old man. Nicely done," snickered Harry. "How about... hmmm... _NO_!" And laughed.

That got the old man angry. "Young man, come here... _Now!_ "

"Old man," he mimicked right back. "I'd say come here and suck my penis; but, since you're a homosexual, you might just do it."

That had everyone, including the bystanders, gasp in shock.

Looking around - there were now quite a few people gathered behind the Order, but still not directly behind, and trying to listen in - Harry had the audience he wanted. He had information Luna had provided in those scrapbooks of hers he could use.

"What?" he loudly asked to the crowd at-large. "You didn't know?

"Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald were lovers. It's why Albie wouldn't go after Grindelwald until the mid 1940s, even though Grindelwald started his pogrom in the late 1910s. He and Grindelwald were planning to take over the world _together._ They decided that, while Grindelwald was staying at his aunt Bathilda Bagshot's place in Godric's Hollow, back very soon after the turn of the century.

"That's where Dumbledore's _and_ Grindelwald's catchphrase, 'It's for the Greater Good' comes―"

" _ENOUGH!_ " Dumbledore screamed, now red in the face.

"Oooh..." said Harry. "It appears you didn't want anyone to _know_ , did you. _Oops!_ "

" _Shut your mouth, dark wizard!_ " yelled Ron.

Harry just laughed and said, "Tell me, Thief Weasley, how you came to the conclusion I'm dark. Is it because the Great and powerful Fairy... I mean, Dumbledore... told you I was? Did you even ask for proof?"

"Of course you're dark!" he snapped. "You're wearing black!"

"That I'm wearing black makes me dark?" asked Harry, actually surprised. Pretending to be overly-acting it, he exclaimed, "Oh, my God! Every student at Hogwarts wears black, so every student at Hogwarts is a dark wizard!

" _Quick!_ " he mocked. "You'd best hurry there and _kill them all!_ " And laughed again.

He also noticed there were a few bystanders who also hid snickers behind hands to their mouths.

Frustrated Ron barked, "You're a Peverell! Everyone knows the Peverells were dark!"

"So were the Blacks!" Harry shot back. "Wasn't your great grandmother, Cedrella, born a Black? Did your great grandfather marry a _dark_ wizard?"

He immediately turned to Neville and asked, "And what about _your_ great grandmother, Callidora, Longbottom? She was born a Black, too, wasn't she?"

Turning back to Weasley he said, "Accusing someone they're dark, just because of what family they were born into, is a clear nonsense, Weasley. Otherwise, both you and the _Second_ Chosen One, Longbottom, are both dark. So is Nymphie Tonks, back there," that had Tonks instantly shut up and glare back, "So is old Moody there... so are quite a few of you, come to think of it.

"Oh. My. God!" he mock-horror exclaimed as if just realising something. "The Order of the Flaming Fairies is full of dark wizards! Look out, everybody! The Dark Lord has a challenger!"

And laughed again. So did quite a few of his now audience.

Inside the bank, Luna was giggling so hard and trying to stifle it she was red in the face, crying and leaning against the wall, where she'd collapsed against it.

Harry finally looked around, shook his head at the idiocy of some folks and called. "Right, folks! Entertainment is over! I'm about to step off this step. When I do, Dumbledore and his lick-spittle _minions_ are going to _attack_ me. You'd best not stand outside or you risk getting hit with stray spells."

Harry watched as many folks quickly disappeared into shops. However, all of them either stood in the doorways or looked out through the windows; the... plain glass... windows.

'Well, I _warned_ them,' thought Harry. 'If they get hurt now, it's their own damned fault.'

As they'd cleared out, Harry watched as the Order readied themselves. He just grinned back.

Once the bystanders were 'gone', he held his hands out to show he didn't have a wand. "Look everybody! NO wand!" he called. "If you attack me, you'll be attacking an _unarmed_ man!"

Then he grinned again... and stepped off.

Dumbledore roared, " _NOW!_ "

Wands in Order members' hands snapped up and, _en masse_ , fired stunners. The only ones who didn't were Tonks and Remus and a couple others Harry didn't recognise.

Harry simply flicked his left hand out as he spread his fingers and activated the _kara kesh_.

All... eight... stunners, including Dumbledore's, simply died when they hit the golden shield Harry'd erected around himself from the _kara kesh_.

Immediately, they all, including many bystanders, gawked back at Harry in stupefied shock. No one should be able to withstand a concentrated barrage like that without succumbing to many of them; _especially_ not without a wand in your hand.

As soon as the last Charm hit, Harry turned off the _kara kesh_ and drew his wand from his sleeve.

As he raised it he barked, " _My turn!_ " And started rapid-fire casting.

In his mind he was rapidly chanting, 'Stun! Break! Stun! Stun! Stun! Stun! Poke! Stun! Stun! Shove! Stun! Pud-Trip! Stun! Cut! Stun! Break! Stun! Stun! Stab! Stun! Break! Stun! _Stun!_ '

He'd replaced every incantation in his repertoire with a single syllable word that related. _Stupefy_ became _Stun_ ; _Confractus_ (for the shield breaker) became _Break_ ; _Depulso_ became _Push_ ; _Secare_ , the Cutting Curse, became _Cut_ ; Pud-Trip was actually a combination pair of jinxes, the Knockback Jinx and the Tripping Jinx; and so on.

Further, without even realising he was doing it at first, back in his third or fourth fight with the Jaffa he had begun to pump magic into his own body to try and help. It did.

What he'd manage to accomplish through the employment of will and magic was to temporarily increase the speed of his thought processes, heighten his reflexes and speed up his movement. From his side, it made everything slow down around him; but that wasn't the case. For those watching him, or being involved with him, in a battle it saw him significantly speed up until he almost looked like he was 'blurring'. And curses were leaving his wand as if from the barrel of a machine gun.

His wand was moving so fast no one could any longer see it and his hand was just a blur. As such, no one could even deduce what spell he'd next cast from the wand movements. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway; he was practically point-casting. It was, fundamentally, inhuman; and that's why the Jaffa and Tok'Ra thought him to be a demon.

At a distance of twenty plus feet, as they were now separated, Harry had his third cast leaving his wand before his first reached its target. He had Dumbledore, his first target, down and stunned within one and a half seconds after hitting him with a stunner, snap-blocked by a Protego from the old man, hit with a shield breaker, smashing the Protego and rocking the old man back, then downed and unconscious by an unblocked stunner. The rest of the Order including Longbottom, except for Mad-Eye, didn't even get another spell off before Harry had them _all_ down. Both Remus and Tonks let 'their' stunners hit them. Remus even closed his eyes, waiting for it. Tonks was just goggling back in shock. For Moody, he was the last down. However, he couldn't dodge due to his wooden leg and was down with a triple of a stunner, shield breaker and stunner just like Dumbledore, unable to protect himself beyond the first shield charm, with a second stunner just in case.

In return, the only one to get a spell off back at him was also Moody. And Harry simply side-stepped that one. He also recognised it as a somewhat dark, or dark grey, spell; a bone _shatterer_. However, he was still trying to get his head around over how damned slow the stunners and Moody's bone shatterer moved. Compared to a blaster weapon, they _crawled_ towards him.

As soon as the Order were down, with Moody joining the rest on the ground only four seconds after Dumbledore went down, Harry was already looking about for any further threats. There weren't any. Everyone not an Order member were now _gawping_ at him from the walls and through doors and windows.

"Well!" he huffed. " _That_ was invigorating!" Then he looked around at those bystanders staring at him, still in shock. "Anyone else?"

That had heads all duck away again.

Laughing, he walked over to Remus and enervated him with the incantation, 'Wake!'

As Remus gave a start and his eyes snapped open he found himself staring into the eyes of his honorary nephew, grinning down at him. And stopped still.

"I'll let _you_ wake the idiots up, once I'm gone," said Harry.

Then he walked off, up the Alley.

A quick Notice-me-Not while he walked and a hundred plus yards later, he was slipping in through the door of Madam Malkin's. And immediately dispelled the Notice-me-Not again.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Luna had managed to watch what was going on outside right up until Harry said he was going to step off the step. That's when the door guards outside hustled in and slammed the big, reinforced doors shut, practically in her face.

Only ten seconds later they were opening them again and she quickly slipped through with a lot of other witches and wizards who were waiting inside. She immediately saw Harry enervate Remus and then walk off, disappearing a few moments later.

Knowing where he was headed, she nimbly slipped through the unconscious bodies in the middle of the Alley and, giving an unconscious Dumbledore an 'accidental' swift kick to the testicles as she went, skipped on up the Alley. A wizard leaving the bank behind her saw her do it, smirked and added his own, much harder, swift kick to the old man's twins.

As she walked into Madam Malkin's, it was to see Harry already standing on one of the low pedestals on the male side of the store and being measured.

"Hi Luna!" he grinned. "Enjoy the show?"

"I was in the bank and the goblins slammed the doors shut just before spells started flying," she replied. "They had them open again about ten seconds later to see Dumbledore and his... Order of the Flaming Fairies... all taking unintended naps on the cobblestones."

That had the witch measuring Harry pause and look to Luna. "Dumbledore was in a battle and lost?"

"With Neville Longbottom," she grinned, "Plus about another almost dozen of Dumbledore's illegal Order as backup."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Remus had immediately woken Tonks and quietly told her Harry had won. Then, though she was clearly shocked, she helped him wake the others. Out of spite Remus woke Dumbledore last.

When the old man snapped awake and looked around for his wand, he aborted reaching for it and reached for his testicles instead, moaning in pain. It was a few seconds later, still in pain and with one hand cupping his tackle, he was clearly relieved to find his wand close at hand and picked it up. A quick wave of it at his own groin and he sighed in relief.

"What happened?" he then demanded.

"We lost," Remus simply replied.

"Who was killed?"

"No one," Remus smirked. "Apparently, he's not as _dark_ as you and Ronald seem to believe."

Dumbledore scowled and held out his off hand in a clear gesture to be helped to his feet. Remus grabbed him by the forearm and lifted; and Dumbledore winced as he recovered his footing.

"We need to go back to headquarters to discuss this new threat," the old man declared, smashing down in his mind the pain from his bruised boys.

"You _do_ realise we were all down and at his mercy and that he could have easily killed us all, right?" asked Remus.

Irritably, Dumbledore waved it off and said, "It was just a gesture to make people _think_ he isn't dark. He's definitely dark, though."

"As _he_ asked, where's your proof?" Remus snapped back. "If you believe he's dark, you'll be explaining to us all how you came to that conclusion."

"I will _not_ be questioned about my decisions!" the old man snapped back.

Before Remus could retort, the old man turned and snapped out loud enough for the other Order members to hear, "Back to headquarters to discuss this latest dark wizard!" And immediately latched onto Longbottom and apparated away with him, blowing through the anti-apparation wards over almost the entirety of the Alley, before anyone could say anything. The only place without the anti-apparation ward was over the two designated apparation points, one each end, of the Alley.

As the other Order members hurried away to the upper end apparation point just inside the arch leading back to the Leaky Cauldron, Tonks walked over to Remus and said, "He has _no_ idea it's Harry, or that _we_ know he's not dark. So, Dumbledore is simply declaring 'the man in black' to be dark because he _felt_ like it?"

"No," scowled Remus. "He's declaring him dark because he's afraid he has rightful access to the Potter accounts. Dumbledore wants those for himself and has been fighting for access to them from Sirius for quite some time.

"I think he intends to convince everyone Harry's dark so he can get him shuffled off to Azkaban and out of the way... like he did to Sirius back in '81. You can't access Gringotts from a cell in Azkaban."

With a sigh, Tonks said, "Let's get to headquarters so we can keep an eye on him and what he tries."

The two then left for the apparation point.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

None of those of the Order hurrying up the Alley saw Harry through the window of Madam Malkin's getting measured for new robes. Mind you, that might be because he'd doffed his hat and over robes and, therefore, looked a little different.

It was also apparent the staff of Malkin's were either too busy with work; or hadn't been informed by a passer-by or customer of what was going on, while it was going on. And, therefore, did not see their new customer was the one accused of being a dark wizard and then attacked by members of the Order.

It was both, actually.

"There was an attack?" asked the sales assistant witch, from where she was kneeing at Harry's feet while getting further measurements.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "Dumbledore seems to want to go around accusing folks, for no reason, that they're dark and, even while they're unarmed, attack them with about ten of his minions... I mean, members of the Order of the... Stupid Chicken?.. backing him up."

"I think you mean Order of the Flaming Flamingo," smirked Luna.

"No, that's not it," said Harry, mock-frowning. "Ummm... Order of the... Burnt Turkey?.. No, that's not it, either."

"Order of the Sautéed Seagull? Pickled Pigeon? Stunned Salmon?" Luna giggled.

Harry chuckled and said, "Nah! You just like the alliterations."

"Guilty!" she quickly declared. Then tried, "Order of the Oddball Occamies!"

"I think you mean Order of the Phoenix," said the witch as Harry laughed.

Harry and Luna glanced at each other and grinned.

"Now _why_ would a dark wizard like Dumbledore call his _illegal vigilante organisation_ the Order of the Phoenix?" he calmly asked.

Just as calmly Luna replied, "He wants everyone to think he and his _illegal vigilante organisation_ are _light_ wizards and witches, Love."

" _Well!_ Attacking an _unarmed_ wizard stepping out of Gringotts, with a dozen members of that _illegal vigilante organisation_ at his side, was a bad way to get people to think he's light, wasn't it?

"Besides, who would ever believe that an _illegal vigilante organisation_ could be light?"

"Apparently, most of the wizards and witches of magical Britain," she logically replied.

Both saw as the young witch on the floor thought hard about that, frowning; and grinned at each other again.

Once the measurements were completed, it was on to colour, style and fittings.

Harry was quite happy just sticking to basic black, like Luna had bought him in advance and he was wearing. However, now that he was here, she was determined to see his wardrobe cover more than just that one colour or tone.

She and the sales assistant then rapidly talked to each other about styles, colours and the like while also gesturing the certain features of Harry; such as the colour of his eyes, colour of his hair, his build, etcetera. Harry stood there watching them both, with his head rotating back and forth like he was watching a tennis match at Wimbledon from the front seats. He was just as quiet, too.

Eventually, a good two dozen different coloured material 'swatches' were brought out. That got narrowed down to half a dozen and then large bolts of cloth were brought out.

Luna instantly went to a dark, almost forest, green and brought it over to drape over Harry's shoulder.

"Hmm..." she said, before giving a nod and saying, "That's one!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At the 'secret headquarters' of the Order of the Phoenix – that is, a previously abandoned classroom just down the corridor from his gargoyle guardian protected entrance to his office - Dumbledore was almost ranting in his objurgation of 'the Peverell wizard', how his Order did not 'do their jobs' and a lot else.

It was into this that Moody stomped into the room, before then moving to sit on a chair at the other end of the boardroom-style table from where the old man stood.

As he sat, Dumbledore glared at him and snarked, "It's nice of you to join us, Alistair. I thought I ordered everyone directly back to here?"

"You might have," said Moody. "However, I had something else to do, first."

"And what was so important you had to delay?" the old man demanded.

Moody reached into an inside pocket of his heavy coat and withdrew a small framed picture; before tossing it, face up, somewhat down the table.

"I went to visit old Bathilda Bagshot to see if what Peverell said was true," he calmly replied.

As Dumbledore gave a start of shock, he continued. "It seems he didn't lie. According to old Bagshot, you and her nephew, Gellert Grindelwald, _were_... as she put it... quite close.

"She even said you were, soon after the time Grindelwald began staying with her after being kicked out of Durmstrang, almost inseparable; with both of you spending a lot of time planning and plotting... _things_.

"She also said you both used the phrase, 'For the Greater Good' a lot after you became close. At the time, she thought you were just being 'boys' and your plans to take over the world _For the Greater Good_ were just words. Now, though?" And shrugged.

Doge, had reached out and picked up the frame with its photo. It showed a teenaged Dumbledore and Grindelwald standing side by side with their nearest arms around each other. Dumbledore, slightly taller and with his right arm around Grindelwald's shoulders; and Grindelwald, with his left arm around Dumbledore's back. Doge was old enough to recognise both.

Looking up at Dumbledore while holding the frame in his left hand, Doge gestured to it with his other hand and demanded, "Do you care to explain this, Albus? Or, are you just going to reply, 'What I do is for The Greater Good,' like you usually do?"

Scowling, Dumbledore used the few moments of dropping into his throne-like chair at the head of the table to think before he replied, "I knew Gellert, when we were very young men. At that time, of course, I had no idea what he would go on to do. As with all young men... and women... I was unwise in some of my choices.

"However, once I determined what sort of man he was like, I drove him off."

"That's not how Bagshot tells it," growled Moody. "According to her... and now confirmed by your brother, Aberforth... it was _Aberforth_ who drove him off; with the three of you in a three-way duel at the time. He also said that one of you killed your sister, Ariana, during that duel."

"He cannot know who it was," grumped the old man.

"Oh?" asked Moody. "As Ariana Dumbledore was killed by the Killing curse, are you saying _you_ were casting Killing curses at the time... Albus?"

After another deep scowl it was a moment before Dumbledore snapped back, "It is not your place to question me, _Mister_ Moody. You are no longer an auror."

"And, yet, I _still_ retain auror instincts and the experience of being a Master Auror," Moody snapped back. "Your answer... or, rather, _non_ -answer... tells me all I need to know."

Moody then stood back up and, reaching into his pocket, withdrew his Order medallion and tossed it down the length of the table.

"As someone who has cast an Unforgivable you should be in Azkaban, Albus," he stated. "You are a self-admitted criminal; and, as such, I will not abide being a Member of your Order any longer."

Then he spun about and stomped back out again.

Two others then stood and, without a word, tossed their own Order medallions on the table. One of them, Oliver Rivers, said, "He's right." And both walked out.

A third, who was in the Alley with them, then stood and said, "We attacked an unarmed man, Dumbledore. We fired stunners at him _at the same time_. Do you have _any_ idea what that many stunners hitting a person at the same time does to them? It very likely _kills_ them."

Professor Minerva McGonagall, who wasn't there for the attack but was there for the meeting, scowled and said, "If it was the same as four stunners hitting me close together back in June 1996, it'll have _at least_ put him in hospital."

"I did not sign up for this," the wizard continued. "I signed up to fight You-Know-Who, not someone who _might_... without any _proof_... be one of his Death Eaters." Then he, too, walked out.

Dumbledore could do nothing, but scowl at his back.

In a quiet voice, Neville asked, " _Were_ you and Grindelwald friends, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore waved him off and said, "What happened almost a century ago is _not_ your concern, my boy."

"Yes it is," Neville firmly disagreed.

Dumbledore finally looked to him and said, "You need to focus on your training, my boy. Your destiny still awaits you."

"Does it?" he asked back. "Or, have you been lying about that, too?"

"Do _not_ question me, Mister Longbottom," Dumbledore practically snarled.

"No," said Longbottom. "That's your answer for everything, isn't it, Headmaster? Every time someone asks you something you don't want to answer, you give back either a refusal to answer while claiming you're all-wise and knowing, or some... platitude that's also a slap-down."

"Mister Longbottom..." the old man warningly growled.

" _No!_ " snapped Neville. "One of my trainers... my primary trainer, in fact... Moody, just _walked out_ on you. And Professor Flitwick is _far_ too busy with classes to pick up the slack! And you... you just keep _blowing me off_ instead of actually providing me with any actual training, _as you promised me and my grandmother you would do!_

"It's time you start answering questions and providing the _combat_ training you promised, or I'm gone!

"That man took _less than two seconds_ to put you down! And I was down less than a second later! If, whoever that was, could put all of us down that fast... then what is _Voldemort_ going to do to me?!"

Then he got up and stormed from the room.

When Ron jumped to his feet and made to follow, Neville said, "Naff off, Weasley."

Ron stood there, shocked and wondering if he should hurry after his 'best mate', or sit again. He looked to Dumbledore to see if he'd tell him what to do.

Dumbledore, tense and gritting his teeth, just sat there feeling utterly impotent. He never said a word.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

By the time the two witches, the sales assistant and Luna were finished Harry would be getting a robe of forest green with black trim; a robe of black with bright green piping, of which the colour near perfectly matched his eyes, according to Luna; a third of deep _deep_ red so dark that, in anything but bright light, looked like it actually _was_ black; a fourth that was a proper set of professional duelling robes in black and dark grey that would take a week to make; and, of all things, a set of pure white robes and matching slippers, for which Luna refused to explain why. The second set, the black with green piping, would also have the Peverell and Potter crests stitched into the breast.

However, the robes weren't the only items of clothing purchased. He also came away with a pair each of black, red and green dragon-hide boots, and black wizarding 'slippers' for around the house.

Other than the duelling robes, the rest would be ready by that evening. However, they said they'd be back in two days to pick the rest up.

Harry had already decided that, if the boots weren't as comfortable as the military combat boots he was currently wearing, he'd be buying more of what he was wearing out in the muggle world when he went out the next day to shop there.

He also, according to Luna, had to start magically forcing his hair to grow out and long. She'd also be purchasing for him Sleek-Ezy Hair Potion to use on it to get rid of the still-on-occasion 'bird's nest' that was its default. That was at least one thing he was happy to do.

Once finished, Luna said, "Ready to go, Love?"

"Definitely!" he firmly replied, relieved.

She smiled back before then hooking her right hand into his left elbow, as she'd been doing since he'd returned, and they walked to the door together.

"Into the muggle world or home?" she asked.

"Home," he replied. "We can save the muggle world for tomorrow."

Just as they stepped out the door, Luna leading this time considering how narrow the doorway was, Harry found his left arm at the bicep grasped from the side.

As he felt the pull back on his arm he instantly increased the spin while raising his right hand in a fist; ready to punch whoever it was in the face. He knew it wasn't Luna, because she was ahead of him.

However, as he drove the punch forward he had to throw it off to only lightly clip the woman, who'd grabbed him, in the ear on the way past. Then, as quickly as he could, he pulled the arm back.

He was ready to pry the woman's talons... fingers... off his arm with his right hand, but the clip to her ear had her release him with a startled 'yelp' and yank of her hand back, anyway.

Looking down at the woman from his extra four inches of height he snarled, "Skeeter. That was _damned_ foolish of you."

With her left hand raised to massage her ear and set her slightly knocked askew glasses back in place, Skeeter stuttered a bit with nonsensical noise before she rallied and, trying to be smooth, said, "I believe you and I should go somewhere and... talk... about your _brave_ defence of yourself outside Gringotts only―"

"Shut up, Skeeter," he quietly snapped at her, cutting her off.

When the woman gaped at him and began to bristle he said, "First, that you're trying to come over all the seductress is, quite frankly, disturbing. Woman, you're about _thrice_ my age. Go try that shit with someone somewhere around your own age. You know, like Dumbledore."

When she gaped again he continued, "You want to interview me? No problem. But you _lie_ to me; or lie _about_ me... I will _hunt_ you down and will _squash you like a little bug_. Do you understand what I'm telling you, little bug?"

Now somewhat frightened, Skeeter quickly nodded; but again rallied quickly. "Are you willing to be interviewed now?"

He thought about that and glanced towards Luna, who had moved to stand behind the woman and was now grinning while rapidly nodding, and said, "You know what? Why not."

Eagerly, Skeeter asked, "Shall we get a room at the Leaky Caul―"

" _There_ you go again, Skeeter," he snapped, cutting her off. "Trying to get me into a room, on your own, in private... You're _three times_ my age, woman! Shame on you!"

Another glance to Luna and he could see she was now holding up a small swatch of light green fabric she'd grabbed earlier from inside Malkin's and mimicked writing something with her other hand before then pointing at Florean Fortescue's Ice Creamery, across the Alley. Harry gave her a subtle nod as he looked back down to Skeeter.

With a flick of his chin in that direction, he said, "We'll go into Fortescue's and sit at an inside table. You can also buy me lunch, as I've not had a chance to eat yet. It can go on your expense account. I'm sure the _Prophet_ provides you with one, just for this sort of thing."

Again checking for Luna he could see she'd already gone, which meant she'd already hurried across to Fortescue's.

"Oh! And you'll be using a dicta-quill for the interview, or writing by hand. If I see the colour _lime_ anywhere... life, for you, will quickly become unpleasant. Understand?"

Paling again for a long moment Skeeter stood still before she swallowed and said, "Understood, yes."

"If you want to write beyond the truth, then you will ensure... _ensure_... it is stated as _your opinion_ , or _your belief_ or similar," he added. "You will not deliberately mislead the readers of your article away from the truth. If you do... _squish!_ Understood?"

"Understood," she more calmly returned.

He gave a nod back and gestured to the ice creamery. "After you, Miss Skeeter."

Harry was pleased to see a vacant inside table with Luna sitting at one very close by. She was sipping on a cup of tea and nibbling on jam and cream lathered scones with one hand while reading a book with the other.

Skeeter didn't even seem to notice her 'rival's daughter' sitting at the next table and only two feet from her when she sat down. Where she sat had Luna sitting side-on and just behind Skeeter's right shoulder. In other words, in the perfect spot to listen to everything Skeeter said and see everything she wrote if she turned to look. It was obviously deliberate on Luna's part and set up with her Seer abilities in use, probably together with a targeted Notice-me-Not keyed only to Skeeter. Harry, of course, sat opposite the vile woman. He wished he knew how Luna had managed to order her tea and scones in advance enough to have them ready for her when she entered, though. He just hadn't seen her send a messenger Patronus while he'd been pulling a 'mock' robe over his head to take it off, back in Malkins.

Once seated, Skeeter called over Fortescue's only waitress and placed her lunch order. Then Harry gave the girl his own.

Once the waitress was gone with a promise not to be too long, he was pleased to see Skeeter pull out parchment and a quill that didn't have a lime green feather. This one looked like an eagle quill. However, it also demonstrated it was a dicta-quill when, after setting it up next to her right hand, the quill stood up on its own.

With a little throat clear, Skeeter seemed intent to get right into it. "Firstly, may I have your name?"

Harry smirked back and said, "It's quite long. You may use the short form of Lord Hardwin Peverell. If you remain polite and don't get pushy, you may call me Hardwin."

With a beaming smile back, she said, "Thank you, Hardwin; I appreciate that. Now, it is believed that the line of Peverell died out centuries ago. Where has the Peverell family... you... been hiding for these many centuries?"

"Firstly, we weren't hiding, as you put it; the House of Peverell was simply not interested in being in the limelight. Unlike some, we found dignity in not flaunting ourselves to the masses.

"As for me..." he shrugged and wryly smiled. "I had no personal interest in being anyone's hero... or villain. I happened to like my anonymity."

"And yet you've come out into the open now," she pressed.

"I was _forced_ to come out into the open, because that manipulative old bum-naffer fool Dumbledore... who can't seem to help himself in doing so... outed me in public," he corrected her. "I also held off on doing anything while I was waiting for the aurors to show up to defuse the situation. However, they never did. I'm forced to wonder why."

"Yes," she nodded. "He, Dumbledore, even accused you of being a dark wizard."

"I was not surprised," he scoffed. "Dumbledore seems to be of the belief that, if you have a certain name, you must be dark. Actually, Dumbledore seems to think that, if you refuse to accept him as being some... undefined Leader of the Light... a title he gave _himself_ , by the way... then you must be dark.

"That's a nice trick of his. Most people don't want to be labelled as being dark; so Dumbledore _accuses_ , without any actual evidence to support his claim, people of being dark if they refuse to do what he tells them to do. And uses his self-awarded title of Leader of the Light to reinforce it. In that way, he can manipulate people into doing his bidding."

With a gleam in her eye as if she was a shark eyeing off a juicy morsel, she said, "And yet you accused _him_ of being dark."

"That's because I believe manipulating people to do your bidding is an evil thing to do. How can people believe him to be a light wizard, let alone the so-called Leader of the Light, if he continues to commit evil acts?"

"A very good question," she replied. "I also saw the speed in which you took Dumbledore and members of his Order down outside Gringotts. How did you learn to duel so well?"

"Okay," he said. "Let's clarify a few things first. One: Dumbledore's so called Order of the Flaming Fairies, or whatever it's called, is actually an illegal vigilante organisation. I believe the ministry should immediately move to label it as a _proscribed_ organisation and make anyone who's a member of it a recognised criminal. We are a society of _law_ ; vigilantes should play no part of that.

"Two: I see Dumbledore's vigilantes as his personal _minions_ and _thugs_ , not as members of an illegal organisation. Calling them members seems to me to legitimise them and what they do.

"And three: I did not _duel_ Dumbledore and his minions, they _ambushed_ me as I was carrying out lawful and peaceful business as I stepped out of Gringotts and was heading to spend gold with other businesses of the Alley. In other words, they attempted to _mug_ me.

"Their attempt failed because, as a bunch of amateurs... including Dumbledore... who had no business ambushing people, they stepped out of their places of concealment too soon. I was still on sovereign goblin soil, being on the steps of Gringotts, when they got it wrong and moved too soon. This meant I merely had to remain where I was and, safe in the knowledge they wouldn't attack me while on goblin soil, laugh at them at how pathetic they showed themselves to be.

"It is also very apparent Dumbledore has made no effort to train his people in unit combat tactics. They acted like all thugs usually behave, as just a collection on individuals who happen to be together at the time. There was no use, whatsoever, of how to work as a cohesive unit. As Dumbledore has determined himself to be the leader of those vigilantes, I would have thought he would have gotten off his wrinkly, bony, geriatric arse and actually trained the people he leads in working together as a team. Luckily for me, he's shown himself to be completely incompetent at that, too. After all, it was his _failing_ to train Harry Potter... as he bloody well _should_ have, as he knew of the prophecy well in advance... that likely led a great deal to the boy getting hexed through that so-called Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries. Dumbledore's negligence... _criminal_ negligence, some would say... may have well _doomed_ us all.

"As for what you called a duel, a duel is a sanctioned, controlled, one-on-one combat between two individuals. What we had at the steps of Gringotts was a dozen people, Dumbledore and Neville Longbottom included, waiting to attack a man who didn't even have his wand in his hand... me.

"While I deliberately delayed matters while waiting for aurors... who never showed up... to show up and send Dumbledore and his minions, including Longbottom, on their way seeing as what they were doing was _illegal_... I laughed at the old fool and gave him a piece of my mind. When I realised the aurors weren't going to show up after all... and one must wonder why not, when you consider our society is currently at war... I warned all the bystanders that curses were going to start being fired. I, conscientious and fine upstanding citizen I am, knew I was placing myself at greater risk to do so; but did not want to see innocent bystanders hurt, no matter how _stupid_ they were being by just standing there.

"Then I stepped off the step, still without a wand in my hand. Dumbledore immediately barked out, 'Now!'; showing it was his plan, all along, for me to be attacked by himself and his criminal minions. They all fired curses at me at the same time.

"That is not a duel. That is, as I've implied, an unprovoked attack."

"And yet you handily defeated them all," she pressed.

He shrugged and replied, "I do not like bullies or thugs. And Dumbledore and his minions showed that is what they truly are. Besides that, I was defending myself from their unprovoked attack. A quite lawful thing to do; unlike what Dumbledore and his pathetic lackeys tried to do."

The interview was then interrupted by the delivery of their lunches. However, Skeeter kept pressing her questions right through the meal. Thankfully, she seemed to forget she'd also asked him how he'd managed to be so fast. Sadly for her, he had no intention of reminding her of it.

Once finished, Harry thanked the woman for the lunch, warned and reminded her to write her article in a way that did not mislead the reader and firmly stated what he said was to be faithfully quoted. If she quoted him for something he hadn't actually said, or even misquoted him, he'd hunt her down.

Skeeter nodded back and replied, "I believe, almost exactly as transcribed, this article will be faithful to this interview. I really don't think I _can_... dress it up a bit."

"Then I look forward to reading it tomorrow," he said, standing up. "Good day, Miss Skeeter." Then he spun on his heel and walked out. Luna was waiting for him outside the doors.

As they headed for the Leaky Cauldron, Luna said, "I believe I'll be looking forward to reading tomorrow's _Daily Prophet_. I don't often say that."

He smiled back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	7. Luna Moves In

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Seven - Luna Moves In**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When they flooed back to Grimmauld, Sirius was already waiting for them and clearly worried. He quickly said, "Luna knows Longbottom is not the Chosen One!"

"Sirius knows Harry Lives!"

Harry just snorted. "You _know_ you can set the floo up to recognise magical signatures, right?"

"It already is," Sirius scowled. "The password phrases are just an added security. What kept you? I expected you back some time ago."

So Harry and Luna explained Harry's meeting with Dumbledore and members of the Order, then buying new robes from Malkin's and, finally, Harry's interview by Skeeter.

As they explained, Sirius calmed down again. At the end he said, "Skeeter's a dangerous woman, pup. That quill of hers..."

"The quill is mightier than the wand?" asked Harry, deliberately misquoting a famous muggle quote.

Sirius gave a slight snort of amusement and wryly replied, "That's _one_ way of putting it."

"I'm very aware of what Skeeter is like," Harry scowled. "She spent all of both my fourth and fifth years slandering the shit out of me, remember?"

"Ah," muttered Sirius. "I forgot about that."

"Trust me; I haven't," scowled Harry. "However, at the moment, I'm quite comfortable feeding her titbits of information. Tomorrow's _Daily Prophet_ will see just how trustworthy she can be."

"It'll be fine," said Luna, with such a sense of finality they knew her Seer ability had come into play.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was about an hour later both Remus and Tonks turned up, together.

As soon as Tonks saw Harry, she grabbed him by a double fistful of his lapels and dragged him close enough to softly growl, "If you ever call me Nymphie again... I'll―"

Harry just leaned forward the two inches of separation and kissed her, right on the lips.

Startled, she released him and jumped back a pace.

In shock, she looked back at a smirking Harry and said, "You... you..."

"Kissed you, yes," he grinned.

A moment later he added, "Don't worry about it, Tonksie! I kissed you to get you to stop with the empty threats. And I called you Nymphie, back in the Alley, to help _you_ with your secret mission and _me_ with keeping my true identity a secret."

She thought about that for a moment before her hair relaxed back to her standard baby pink and said, "So long as that was _all_ it was..."

He nodded and said, "I kind of like the idea Dumbledore thinks my name is Hardwin Peverell. That's why I used that name with Skeeter."

"Skeeter?" asked Remus, not being there for when Harry and Luna explained the interview for Sirius.

Harry gave a firm nod back and said, "Unlike the rest of you, Skeeter... very soon after what happened in the Alley... found me in Madam Malkin's getting fitted for new robes. As soon as I stepped out, she grabbed me and... _asked_... for an interview. I gave her one."

While Tonks frowned, Remus also frowned and carefully asked, "Was that wise?"

"Yes," he firmly replied. "From now on everyone will believe my name is Hardwin Peverell. After all, if it was in the _Prophet_ , it must be true... right?"

Remus gave a snort of amusement. "Nice prank."

"It's not a prank," Harry returned. "It's... camouflage. Having been outed as Hardwin Peverell people will no longer, or not start to wonder, who I am. They'll now _'know'_ who I am."

"They'll also think you're dark," he shot back.

Harry grinned and replied, "Good. All the better to have them think I'm not Harry Potter returned from the dead, I'm not one of Dumbledore's minions and it's best not to annoy me."

Tonks scoffed and said, "I think word of you taking us down, especially Dumbledore and Longbottom, in the Alley will quickly spread and see to that."

"As will the interview," said Luna, speaking up. "Which was part of the whole point."

"So, from this point on," said Sirius, smoothly cutting in, "Harry is now to be known as 'Hardwin Peverell', Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell."

"And rightful Heir... now Lord... of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter by right of primogenitor," grinned Harry.

"How do you slip _that_ in?" asked a confused Tonks.

"Simple," said Sirius. "It is not well known, but Hardwin Potter married Iolanthe Peverell back centuries ago. Iolanthe was Ignotus Peverell's granddaughter. That's how Harry ended up with the invisibility cloak.

"The Potter line, as far as anyone knows, is now dead. As Harry didn't leave a Will, the goblins traced the line backwards until they hit a Peverell. Then they traced the line down that line."

"And that leads down to Hardwin Peverell," said Remus, nodding. "It makes perfect sense and, as you said, is a simple explanation."

Sirius added, "And I'll let it be known tomorrow that, while I'm not happy about it, the goblins have proven to me that Hardwin Peverell is the rightful inheritor of the Potter fortune. I've then, reluctantly, handed over control of it to him."

Tonks snickered and said, "Dumbledore's going to go _spare!_ "

Grinning, Sirius firmly replied, " _Good!_ "

To Sirius, Remus asked, "You _do_ know he's going to demand a conversation with you, don't you?"

"Of course," nodded a still grinning Sirius. "It should be fun!"

"Don't talk to him," said Luna. "Send him an owl when he tries to contact you. In that letter, let him know that your hands were tied and there's nothing you can do. Also write that he has no right to interfere in, or even question, rightful inheritances."

Sirius looked eager to do so.

"Now that that's out of the way," said Tonks, staring with intensity at Harry, "I want to know how it is you got so bloody fast and capable."

"One moment, Tonks," said Harry. "Dumbledore turned up and already knew a couple of things. One, that I was 'Lord Peverell'; and two, that I had access to the Potter fortune.

"That means one of those nasty little goblin buggers alerted the old man I was there. That also means I'm going to have to go into Gringotts, tomorrow, to demand an investigation."

"No you're not, Harry," said Luna. "Axe Lord Ragnok's _already_ started that. He was inside the doors, paying attention to what was going on between you and Dumbledore.

"He's _furious_! Not with you, though; with whichever goblin or goblins have been slipping Dumbledore information.

"When next you go in he's going to be all-apologetic. Just you wait. Try to be a little magnanimous, but also firm in your threats to take your wealth out of his bank and have the gnomes of Zürich look after it all if it happens again.

"That way, it won't."

Harry grinned back and said, "That's a damned fine idea. I'll do that." Before turning back to Tonks.

"Sorry, Tonks," he apologised. "You wanted to know how I got, as you put it, 'so bloody fast and capable', right?"

She nodded.

He turned to Sirius and asked, "You have a duelling room in here, right?"

"Oh, _yes_ ," replied his godfather. "It's down in the basement. Come on!" Then led the way.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Down in the Townhouse's magically expanded and severely warded duelling room, thankfully without an International level standard duelling platform, Harry had Sirius set up all the duelling mannequins he had available. There were only four.

"Well, it's nowhere _near_ enough," sighed Harry. "But, it'll have to do."

After Sirius instructed him on how to use them Harry stood twenty five feet from them, drew his wand and barked "Level Five! Activate!"

The others, except Luna, all gave a start in shock. They were standing outside the warded area in which Harry and the mannequins stood. Level 5 was the highest setting and included the mannequins casting lethal curses.

However, before Sirius or either of the other two could call out the 'stop' command to stop things - Deactivate! - the mannequins were already casting.

Harry then moved... fast. He was simply dancing out of the way of every curse sent flying at him, but didn't seem to have to move that far to avoid being hit. For some, he merely leaned out of the way at the hips. For others it was a simple step to the side.

For the first ten seconds he didn't even raise his wand or activate his _kara kesh_. He just spent the time dodging. However, as Tonks had said upstairs, he was incredibly fast, without looking like he was.

After ten seconds he then laughed and activated his _kara kesh_ and stood still. Not even looking at the mannequins now, he turned to others and said, "That's dodging. And this is how a _kara kesh_ works as a shield."

All bar Luna just stood gawking at him as curses of all sorts of lethal intensity just hit the golden barrier and fizzled out.

"Now for going offensive," he said, before turning back to his 'opponents', who were still casting.

A quick step to the right as he dropped the _kara kesh_ shield and his wand came up. Then it was a blur.

Again, all sorts of hexes flew from his wand tip, or where what had to be his wand tip if their eyes could keep up with watching it. However, he wasn't casting anywhere as lethal as the mannequins were casting at him. By the time each hex hit one of the mannequins it looked like two more were already on their way. The effect of the coloured light from the spells he cast was almost strobe-like.

Then they 'saw' Harry suddenly change his stance; he became more focused. Three seconds later all four mannequins were down.

" _Deactivate!_ " he barked, as the last one fell.

Turning to the four he said, " _That's_ how fast I now am."

" _Sweet... suffering... Merlin!_ " breathed Tonks. "It's true, then. You really _are_ the Chosen One."

"Apparently," Harry calmly replied.

"Teach me!" she beg-demanded.

Harry grinned back.

"I think he'll be teaching _all_ of us," breathed Sirius.

Harry nodded and replied, "I can do that. However, it's going to require you to be open to accepting that a lot about what you know of magic... is a lie."

"A... lie?" asked Remus.

Harry nodded. "You're going to need to unlearn a lot of what you've learned about magic. For instance, wand gestures... incantations... even having a wand in your _hand_... doesn't really matter."

"Sorry?" asked Remus.

Harry thought about how to clarify it before he hit on an idea. Turning to Tonks he said, "Tonks, come in here and give me your wand."

Warily, Tonks did precisely that.

"Now," he said to her. "As an auror you've been taught how to summon your wand to your hand, right?"

"Yes..." she carefully replied.

With another nod he instructed, "Go stand in front of the mannequins and turn to face me."

When she did, he held her wand in his hand. His own wand was back in its holster. "Now, summon it from my hand."

"Ummm... We're only taught how to summon it from the ground."

He frowned back and said, "What does where it is located have to do with anything? _Summon_ it."

She thrust her right hand out an he heard her firmly incant, " _Accio_ my wand!"

He felt it give a little pull, but that was it.

He then glared at her and said, "I thought I told you to summon it. Now, _summon_ it."

Again, she tried; this time with a firm bark of, " _ACCIO my wand!_ "

This time the wand gave a definite pull, but easily countered by simply gripping the wand tighter.

"You know, _Nymph-a-dora!_ " he sneered at her. "I thought you wanted your wand. Clearly you don't!"

Again thrusting her hand forward and getting a little annoyed, she yelled, " _ACCIO_ MY WAND!"

Still with the same pull, but again easily countered.

Harry then raised the wand horizontal and across his body and said, "Well, it seems you don't really want a wand, after all. I think I'll just have to snap it, then."

As she looked back, horrified, Harry raised his off-hand and gripped it near the wand tip while still holding it by its contoured grip. Then, looking back at her terror-stricken face and with both hands, he began to bend it.

"No!" she screamed, jutting her wand hand forward as if to reach for it.

The wand ripped out of Harry's hands, shot across the intervening distance and slapped, wand grip first, into her own. It had even yanked him forward one and a half steps as he stumbled forward from the sharp and sudden pull.

With his hands still up before him, Harry slowly lowered them while grinning at her.

In shock, she looked between the wand in her hand and Harry.

More calmly, he asked, "Do you understand what you did differently?"

Her facing morphing into confusion she finally replied, "I... tried harder?"

"No," he replied. "Think about what differed between the first three times and that time."

"You were going to snap my wand," she replied.

"Yes, but think about what that meant _to you_ ," he pressed.

"Terror... fear..." she said.

"Then?" he pressed again.

"I had to get it off you," she replied.

"Yes," he nodded, slowly grinning. "You employed _will_. You didn't do that the first three times.

"The first three times you incanted. You didn't the last time, you just barked, 'No!'. You still gestured, but it wasn't the gesture you're taught to wandlessly cast for the Accio Charm. And you didn't actively attempt to cast your magic; instead, you cast your emotion... your _will_.

"As such, you did not use incantation, gesture or conditioned pumped magic. And yet, you accomplished what you wanted to accomplish whereas you _couldn't_ when you used those three.

"In other words, magic is _not_ about incantation, gesture, wand or pumped magic... is it?"

Looking down at her wand resting in her now opened hand she suddenly closed her fist, lowered her arm and marched up to where Harry stood.

"Move aside," she snarled.

As Harry calmly stepped to the side, she went into an auror combat stance and looked at the inert mannequins in hate. Suddenly her wand snapped up and she snarled, "Die!" An orange blasting hex leapt from her wand, flew the distance between her and them and slammed into one of the middle mannequins, blasting it apart.

Other than Harry and Luna, the latter who giggled and clapped, the other three stared at the mannequin in shock; that included Tonks. Harry was simply grinning.

He gave it a moment for what just happened to sink in before he calmly said, "Now. Think about what it was you wanted to happen; not the incantation you used, but the _intent_ you wanted. What was it?"

Slowly lowering her wand again, it was a moment for Tonks to reply. "I wanted it to blow up."

"And what happened?" asked Harry.

"It blew up!" she firmly replied.

"In other words, it wasn't the incantation, because 'Die' is not the incantation for the blasting hex, it's 'Confringo'. It wasn't the wand gesture because, while you still had a wand in your hand, you only used it to point at your chosen target. It was simply your _intent_ that shaped your magic and your _will_ that drove it to happen," he explained. "Understand, now, what I meant by you need to... unlearn what you've learned?"

When she just nodded, still staring at the mannequin, he turned to both 'retired' Marauders and Luna and asked, "And what about you three? Do you understand?"

" _Hell_ , yes!" Sirius emphatically replied, as Remus simply nodded. Luna merely smirked.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry spent time instructing the others, including Luna, on how to use their will rather than 'trained' magical forms to cast magic. Once he had all three up to the same point as Tonks, it was past dinner time and Dobby was down there to remind them of that.

Checking his mechanical watch, Remus said, "He's right. Besides, this new way of casting magic has already tired me out."

"You'll quickly get used to it," said Harry. "We'll come back to it tomorrow afternoon. Luna and I are going shopping in the muggle world tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to picking up some more 'normal' clothes.

After dinner, Remus and Tonks left, with Tonks saying she'd needed to head right for home as she had an early shift with the aurors the next morning.

After a look between she and Remus, he also left. As they did, Sirius was grinning at his best mate; who blushed, but refused to respond.

Once Tonks and Remus had gone, Harry asked, "Okay, what am I missing?"

Overly innocent, Sirius asked right back, "What do you mean?"

Luna saw it as her responsibility to answer and replied, "They're sleeping together."

"Sorry? What?" asked Harry.

As Sirius snickered, Luna calmly replied, "Remus and Tonks are sleeping together."

"After they've first had hot monkey sex and tired themselves out enough," snickered Sirius.

Harry blushed and quietly said, "Oh. I didn't know."

Beginning to stop snickering and trying to be more logical, his godfather said, "It's called being _discreet_ , Harry."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After dinner, Harry was being caught up on a lot of what had happened that Luna didn't think important enough to go into the scrapbooks. To do that, Sirius had to read the scrapbooks, himself. It wasn't something he'd done until then.

After Sirius told Harry about Pomfrey, Harry asked, "So, Pomfrey's no longer at Hogwarts?"

"No," replied Sirius. "As I said, the Healers' Collegiate came damned close to stripping her of her medi-witch's credentials. The only way they'd allow her to keep them was if she gave up the post at Hogwarts and went to work at Saint Mungo's, where they could keep an eye on her and she had to answer directly to qualified Healers."

"I bet that pissed off Dumbledore," snorted Harry.

"It did," replied Luna.

Sirius added, "Dumbledore tried to have the 'Mot... the Wizengamot... overrule the Collegiate, but the 'Mot laughed at him. They weren't that stupid they'd go against the Collegiate on a decision that was solely the Collegiate's bailiwick.

"Dumbledore had no choice, but to accept the new medi-witch Saint Mungo's offered. At first, he refused her even access to the school. It took the School Board, stepping in and ordering him to accept her or they'd publicly announce he was trying to block her, before he did."

"So, what's she like?" asked Harry.

"She was nicer than Pomfrey," replied Luna. "Better yet, she would instantly throw Dumbledore back out of the infirmary if he went in and tried to boss her around.

"Dumbledore wanted confidential medical information on 'his' students - something he could get away with, with Madam Pomfrey when she was there - but Madam Mirfield would flat out refuse him.

"She then once caught him going through her patient notes. She complained directly to the School Board, the DMLE and the Healers' Collegiate. He never tried that again, but he did try other things."

Harry nodded and said, "Good. It used to really piss me off how Dumbledore would immediately know what Madam Pomfrey found when she examined me. I always thought she was in the wrong for doing that."

"She was," said Sirius. "And, yes, it was a breach of patient confidentiality for her to tell him. That's one of the reasons she was removed from Hogwarts."

"Since then," said Luna, continuing, "Madam Mirfield quit, another took her place and finally there's the one that's there now. The Collegiate have figured out Dumbledore keeps engineering situations where the medi-healer feels they have no choice but to quit, then quits. He then immediately demands back Pomfrey, but is refused. Instead, they send another.

"Dumbledore doesn't know it, or simply refuses to accept it, but he's _never_ going to get Pomfrey back. She's been practically forced to give a Magical Vow she will, never again, be the Hogwarts medi-witch. If the Collegiate run out of capable medi-witches and -wizards to send, they'll start sending Healers.

"At the rate they're currently turning over, they might run out of capable medical staff who aren't Poppy Pomfrey sometime around the year 2230. In other words, about twenty times well beyond Dumbledore's expected remaining life span."

Harry gave a snort of amusement before he asked, "What else?" He was ready to move on.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Wanting an early night for a 'big day' the next day, Harry bid Sirius and Luna a good night and headed for his room.

Once he'd gone upstairs, Luna turned to Sirius and calmly said, "I'm going to join Harry in his room."

When Sirius looked back in surprise and started to slowly grin, she said, "You are _not_ to tease your godson about it. You are not to tease _me_ about it in his presence or hearing. You are to otherwise ignore it. Am I clear?"

With a pained expression Sirius sighed and replied, "Alright. But, just so you know, I'd always planned to give him a lot of curry about his first time. You're being a spoilsport."

"I know," she said. "But, Harry needs his wits about him. If you tease him it will bother him. His thoughts about it will distract him. I can't have you doing that."

With a wince, Sirius nodded and said, "Just... _don't_ hurt him. And, please, put up silencing wards."

"I would never do the first and fully intended to do the second," she replied.

Sirius nodded back and said, "In that case, have fun. And please make sure Harry does, too."

"Of course," she smiled back. Then rose and headed up stairs.

Sirius watched her go and thought, 'I wonder what Rosmerta is up to tonight?'

He headed for the floo.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry had only just climbed into bed and was sitting up reading a book on combat curses from the Black library he'd not heard of before when he heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," he called.

When the door opened and Luna stepped in, he asked, "Need something, Luna?"

She closed the door and drew her wand, making Harry instantly tense, ready to dive aside.

However, she was already into the casting of silencing wards and the like before he could even properly react.

Looking at her in confusion he asked, "Luna?"

"Yes," she replied, turning back to him. "I _do_ need something."

Then she walked over to the other side of the bed and placed her wand and a small vial of bright pink potion on top of the bedside table on that side of the bed. It was the side on the other side of where Harry lay.

Wondering what she was up to, Harry was then surprised when she kicked her shoes off and began to disrobe.

"Errr... Luna?"

"In a moment, Love," she said, not hesitating in disrobing.

When her dress suddenly dropped to puddle at her feet, leaving her in dainty bra, matching panties and stockings, Harry goggled in shock.

"Ummm..." he stuttered.

As she reached around behind her back with both hands, she said, "I need to be open with you about something, Harry."

"Umm... oh?" he distractedly asked, his eyes fixed on her breasts.

"When I said I saw children in your future?" she asked. "That's because I also know who the mother of those children will be."

Then the bra dropped and she let it slide down her arms to one hand. Then let it drop to the floor.

Harry could feel himself physically reacting to the sight of bare Luna-breasts not five feet from his eyes and 'aimed' right at him. He was close enough to see the marks in the skin the tightness of the bra straps left behind.

As he lay propped up with pillows, frozen in place, his eyes took in a lot of other detail in a very short few seconds. Her tan lines were very indistinct, showing she either rarely uncovered or sunbathed topless. Her areolae and nipples were a lot paler than he thought they'd be, being closer to pink than brown, with both also being a little smaller than he thought they 'should' be.

"Do you like what you see, Love?" she asked.

"Hunh?" he reflexively replied-asked, his eyes snapping up to hers.

He could see the slight worry in her now serious face.

"Y-you're _beautiful_!" he exclaimed.

He only just caught the radiant smile her face suddenly bloomed into as he couldn't help letting his eyes drop back down to stare at her chest.

As she then hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and stockings, she asked, "Do you want to know who the mother of your children are going to be, Love?"

"Ah-hmm?" he asked.

She then bent forward and slid her panties and stockings down to her ankles.

Harry caught a half-second of public hair before her chest, then the crown of her head, blocked his view.

However, just two seconds later, she was standing back up straight again.

His eyes now focused on her bush - showing her to be what is known as a 'true' blonde - he saw that it appeared far more sparse than his own. He could even see through it to the vertical lips of her sex. So focussed was he, it didn't even enter his mind she picked up the pink potion and downed it one gulp.

"Me," she said, putting the potion vial back on the bedside table.

"S-sorry? Me?" he stuttered, as she flipped the bedding on her side back, before climbing in.

"Me, Love," she said, settling into bed and calmly pulling the bedding into place.

As she then rolled to face him, she said, "My visions show me that it's me who will be the mother of your children."

"O- _oh!_ " he exclaimed.

"That's why I'm now quite willing to do this with you." Then her hand reached forward to his lap.

As her hand reached him he suddenly took a deep shocked breath and exclaimed, " _O-OOOHhhh!_ "

A little while later and with the bed-covers kicked down, Luna lifted her head from his lap and, while licking her lips, said, "It's a little saltier and pastier than I thought. But, altogether not too distasteful."

Harry was lying with a dopey grin on his face and a vacant expression in his eyes. He didn't respond.

Not waiting for one, she then swung her upper leg over his waist before following it with her body and sat down on his upper thighs.

That snapped him out of his stupor. Looking into her eyes he asked, "Ummm... are you sure?"

She smiled back and said, "I am."

"I... don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," she calmly replied. "You won't, because I know you never willingly would. And you won't, because I've just taken a certain potion."

"I-it's my―" he tried.

"First time. Mine too," she said. "That's why I took the potion."

Then she reached down to the junction of where she sat to fondle a bit more. He didn't see her other hand was in between her own legs, because his eyes were closed and he was groaning again.

In less than a minute she was rising up slightly to slide forward a little.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning, after more of what they enjoyed the previous night, Harry had just walked into the en-suite to shower when Luna quickly hopped out of bed, donned a housecoat quickly brought to her by a Dobby with his eyes closed and hurried down to the kitchen. Sirius was already there and waiting while sipping on a cup of coffee.

With a first look of surprise he was just to about to say something. However, with a vertical finger being waggled back and forth to emphasise her point, Luna got in first and said to him, "Remember, Black... Not. One. _Word_."

Then, before he could say anything back, she hurried back upstairs to be in the room when Harry came out of the shower. Once inside and with the door quietly re-shut she immediately stripped the housecoat off and jumped back into bed. She was settled only one to two seconds before Harry stepped back out and into the room.

Then she calmly rose, 'still' naked and walked by him and into the en-suite. She wore nothing but a smirk for him, as if to say she knew what he was thinking.

As she passed, what he was thinking was to give her a swat on her backside. It didn't help that she wiggled it back at him, as if inviting him to do so, as she stepped into the bathroom and closed the door.

With a sigh at the door in remembrance of what they 'got up to' together, he moved to get dressed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With Harry waiting for Luna to come out of the shower and dress before they headed down to the kitchen together, once she came out of the bathroom he was disappointed to learn she actually had to go back to her own room to get dressed.

"I didn't bring a change of clothing in with me last night, Love," she explained. "Go down and keep your godfather company. I won't be long.

Then she donned her housecoat - which she apparently to Harry _did_ bring in with her, though he didn't remember seeing it - and hurried out of the room to her own. Dobby had already collected all the discarded dirty laundry.

He, now dressed back in his combat boots, olive green combat pants and black T-shirt, headed down to the kitchen.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Luna walked in a few minutes later, Harry was wolfing into an eggs, bacon, baked beans on toast and hash browns breakfast while his godfather just watched him with a pleased grin on his face. However said godfather, as promised, hadn't said a word about Harry and Luna sleeping together. He'd also hardly said any _other_ word, either, beyond 'Good morning'.

As Harry looked up and beamed her a radiant smile, not saying anything because his mouth was full, she said, "Good morning Sirius, Harry."

Sirius replied, "Good morning, Luna." As Harry nodded.

With Harry not looking at him, after a glance at the boy, Sirius turned back to her with a wide grin, waggled his eyebrows at her and winked.

After first checking Harry wasn't paying attention again for herself, he was again focused on his breakfast, she scowled back at Sirius; which just had him grin even wider back.

He might have been 'ordered' not to say a word, but that didn't mean he couldn't make facial expressions - did it?

With thoughts in her head of later having a talk with the older man about propriety, Luna sat at the table and Dobby placed a breakfast before her.

Luna now often preferred a small egg-white omelette on wholemeal toast, no butter or margarine, and trimmed bacon on the side. It wouldn't be an 'English' breakfast without bacon. And she also had both a glass of fresh unsweetened orange juice, which she preferred to pumpkin juice; and the makings for a cup of tea.

That's when Harry finally cleared his mouth enough to wish her a good morning; though he was doing it for show, as he'd already wished her one in his room before their 'morning sex'.

She was barely halfway through her breakfast when, near-simultaneously, Harry finished the food part of his breakfast and moved to his tea and the owl from the _Daily Prophet_ showed up. Harry, quicker in his reflexes, managed to snag the _Prophet_ before his godfather could.

Opening it out he ignored everything bar the headlines, looking for the two stories from Skeeter. However they were the second and third articles, the ones on the front page directly below the lead, anyway.

As he quickly read through them, especially the third which covered the interview, his slight expression of worry just as quickly changed to one with a wide and pleased grin. Then he simply closed and folded the newsparchment up before sliding it down the length of the table to his godfather. Luna, sitting to Harry's side and eating, just watched it slide by.

After Sirius quickly unfolded it, he found the articles right away. Then moved onto the article that covered the attack in the Alley on Harry as he stepped out of the bank. Both, of course, were written by Skeeter.

There was even a wizarding photo of Harry, from activating the _kara kesh_ \- which, thankfully, did not show up in the photograph - to when he'd dropped Moody, before jumping back to the start and repeating. All up, that only took about ten seconds. Harry was standing there, appearing quite calm and relaxed until he started to move after deactivating the _kara kesh_. Then even the photo looked like it blurred him before returning to a stationary Harry after stunning an off-picture Moody.

"That... looks... _awesome!_ " declared Sirius, staring at the photo.

Harry just smiled and shrugged. That sort of battle was nothing compared to the crap he had to go through while fighting Jaffa.

'Try it with a dozen blasting staffs pointing at you and see what it looks like,' he thought. 'Even with that added speed I've still been clipped a couple times. It doesn't make you curse-proof.'

It was after those 'couple times' he was thankful for the _hajar alshifa'_ he'd taken off Imhotep the first time he'd captured him; when he put him under the Imperius.

After Sirius finished reading what he wanted of the _Prophet_ , he slid it back to Harry to read while he waited on Luna.

"I didn't see any article about you having to hand the reins of the Potter fortune over to the now infamous Hardwin Peverell, Sirius," said Harry.

"Hedwig left with the letter late last night," replied Sirius. "Considering the distance between here and the _Daily Prophet_ offices, it would have taken her about twenty minutes to fly there. Then they had to read it, figure out what they were going to do with the information within it, write and edit an article or two based on it and only _then_ would it be ready for inclusion to print.

"I deliberately sent it late enough it wouldn't get into today's edition. However, I'm quite confident it'll be in tomorrow's. I didn't want what I've included to take any impact away from your battle and interview with Skeeter."

"Hunh!" said Harry. "Clever. Got any ideas for the next day's edition?"

"Not yet," he smirked.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Someone else who soon received 'his' copy of that morning's edition of the _Daily Prophet_ , was Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort, aka the Dark Lord, aka He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, aka You-Know-Who. The copy was actually subscribed by one of his minions and faithfully immediately delivered to his hands. At the time, he was sitting on his throne within his throne room in his secret lair - otherwise known as Malfoy Manor, but more properly known as Black Manor - under a strong and often recast Fidelius Charm.

As he sat on his throne reading it, he was very interested in what had happened in the Alley the previous morning. He had been alerted to the non-specifics of what had happened, but the article described it in better - and, surprisingly, more accurate - detail. That then led him straight onto the article that covered the interview of Harry by Skeeter.

When he was finished he called his Lieutenants, his Inner Circle, to him by way of jabbing his wand into the dark mark of one of the few of his Death Eaters currently kneeling before him. They arrived in 'dribs and drabs' within the minute and over the next five. The last one, Gregory Goyle Senior, suffered under the Cruciatus Curse from him for five seconds for being last.

Standing and after warning them all not to be so tardy in future, he got to the point of why he summoned them. He began pacing before his throne as he spoke.

"My faithful brought me news yesterday of a man who had gone to Gringotts and claimed the Peverell fortune. Not only that, but he also claimed the _Potter_ fortune while he was at it," he said.

That had a few, who had not read the newsparchment, mutter in surprise between themselves.

"Then, as reported in this morning's _Daily Prophet_ , he was _accosted_ by the old fool, Dumbledore, and some of the members of his Order as he stepped out of the bank.

"The fool that he is, Dumbledore moved too early and the man had not yet cleared goblin so-called sovereign soil. And Dumbledore, coward that he is, was not willing to allow the man to be attacked until he stepped off the steps of the bank. That gave the man a golden opportunity to use the situation to _laugh_ at the old fool and his minions and bring to light a great many of Dumbledore's secrets of which even I, Lord Voldemort, was unaware."

More murmurs of surprise and shock.

"This man later identified himself as Hardwin Peverell of the great... and infamous... House of Peverell. He also identified himself as _no fan_ of that meddling old fool, Dumbledore. He clearly does not worship the old man, as many other foolish wizards and witches do."

As Voldemort allowed that to percolate through the brains of his faithful all kneeling before him, he then commanded, "It is my order that this Hardwin Peverell is _not_ to be harmed. Instead, I want our spies in Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley and even Godric's Hollow... where the Peverells were once reported to live... gathering information. I want more information on the man.

"Secondly, even while more information about him is being quickly sought, I want you _all_ to be on the lookout for him. If you see him, I want him carefully approached. I want him willingly brought before me, not dragged unwillingly. I want to see if he is willing to join us.

"I believe it will go some way towards destroying the meddling old fool, Dumbledore, to learn that the once Potter fortune, together with the believed Peverell fortune, will be used against him.

"Remember, however, my first order for my faithful _not_ to go anywhere near the Longbottom boy... _remains in force_. It takes precedence over the order to approach Peverell. If you would need to break the first to obey the second, then you are _not_ to break the first."

Giving that another moment to sink in, he snapped out, "Go! Go about your day-to-day lives so you may maintain your covers. However, you are to answer my call with greater alacrity in future!"

As the faithful rose and made their way out, Riddle returned to sitting on his throne; before returning to reading his newsparchment.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Luna had eaten her breakfast and finished her tea - she'd drunk her juice while eating her omelette - they gave it about half an hour for their food to settle before heading for The Leaky Cauldron. It was the smartest way to get via floo and into the muggle world.

Like Harry, Luna had already dressed muggle. It was a similar outfit to what she wore when she came down to the south coast to pick him up; dress, cardigan, sheer stockings and mid heel shoes. She was also carrying her ever-present clutch-purse. She actually looked far better dressed than he did.

Stepping out of the floo in the Leaky Cauldron the two did not hang about in the dingy pub. They directly went to the 'front' door and stepped out onto Charing Cross Road.

A busy road, they only needed to walk down about a hundred yards before they came to one of the many cab rank pick up and drop off points. And, lo and behold, a vacant cab was idling away, waiting for a fare.

Hopping in, before Harry had a chance to give a destination and before the cabbie could even ask 'Where to, Guv?' Luna said, "Harrods Department Store, please."

"No worries, Luv," said the cabbie, already moving to pull out into traffic as soon as he had the gap to do so.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Another to receive their copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that morning, but much later than at the Black Townhouse or the hidden Malfoy Manor, was Dumbledore. His was delivered in the Great Hall of Hogwarts as the mail-owls streamed in through the high and disguised owl windows in the rafters.

Having already finished his breakfast and while sipping on a cup of tea while he listened to the chatter going on around him, the old man quickly had the owl delivering his copy of the _Prophet_ , the only item of mail he 'permitted' delivered to him in the Great Hall, magically divested of its load and sent on its way. Setting his cup and saucer aside, he flicked the newsparchment open so he could read the front page.

With a start of shock he could see that two of the main three articles, the other article was on an attack on a half blood's home two nights ago and where a wizard and his witch wife were murdered, was concerning the Peverell man. However, the first of the two covered in great detail how he, Albus Dumbledore, was thoroughly embarrassed by the man before the man then handily trounced him in a magical battle.

Dumbledore scowled at his newsparchment as he read. He was _not_ a happy breakfaster. The newsparchment article even covered how the Peverell man had told one and all about his, Dumbledore's, involvement with Gellert back at the turn of the century.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Twenty minutes later, due to heavier than normal traffic, the cab was approaching another cab rank and pulled in. Harry already had a twenty pound note out and was offering it to the cabbie as he turned around to tell them the charge.

A quick exchange of cash and the two magicals were out and running inside the store.

Before Harry even had a chance to really look around, Luna had already slipped her right hand into his left elbow and was marching him towards where he could see the escalators over the many, many racks of perfumes and such that were just inside the doors of the store.

"In a hurry, love?" he asked, turning a smirk on her.

"No, but these... scents are quite unpleasant," she replied with a gesture to the racks of perfumes. "There are far too many synthetic, I think is the term, mixed in with the few real ones. I don't like them."

Harry nodded, understanding. The powerful intermingled perfumes were a bit much for him, too. It annoyed him that most department stores also put their perfume ranges right at the main doors of their stores.

Once on the escalator, Luna firmly said, "Menswear first. We also have to get your proper muggle sizes for everything, while we do so."

Harry just physically and verbally nodded, still looking around at everything as he followed her.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Dumbledore hadn't long returned to his office when his floo 'whoomphed' and chimed to let him know he had a floo-call.

Turning to the fireplace he saw the head of Connie Hammer in the green flames.

"Constance, my dear― Errr..." he started before he saw the mighty scowl then cross the face of the Head of the DMLE.

With a sigh he said, "What can I do for you, Director?"

He'd already been hauled over the coals on more than one occasion by the witch for addressing him, as she'd said, so familiarly. For at least a month afterwards, the witch would then flatly and bluntly ignore him, immediately palming him off to an underling when Dumbledore tried to speak with her.

"Step through, Dumbledore," said Hammer. "We need to talk."

Then, before Dumbledore could ask why, she withdrew her head from the flames.

With a second sigh, Dumbledore sent off a messenger Patronus to McGonagall, as his deputy, to inform her he needed to speak with Director Hammer of the DMLE 'most urgently' and would return as soon as he could. As always, he made it seem as if _he_ was initiating things without actually stating such.

Then he was through the floo to what he thought would be the woman's office since her predecessor, Rufus Scrimgeour, had been killed in a late night attack on his home by Tom's 'boys and girls' less than a year after he took the job. Instead, it was the auror bullpen floo, where two Master Aurors were waiting for him.

"Oh," he said, surprised where he'd ended up.

"This way," said the lead Master Auror, Stebbings, before turning about and beginning to walk towards the back of the large office. The other auror, Master Auror Vance, then simply gestured for Dumbledore to follow the first.

As Dumbledore did so, Vance then fell in behind him.

Annoyed by his treatment and the lack of trust and respect, Dumbledore had to clamp down on his Occlumency for any sign of that annoyance showing in his expression. Instead, he maintained an expression of calm peacefulness as he walked.

Instead of being shown into the Director's office, Dumbledore was taken through the door to the Interrogation rooms.

As he hesitated and was about to turn to Vance, he felt the tip of a wand pressed into his kidney area. "Don't make me do this, Dumbledore," said Vance. "You're just going to an Interrogation Room to answer questions, one way or another."

With a sigh, Dumbledore returned to walking and said, "I find myself disappointed in you, Emmaline."

Vance didn't reply; not even to correct him to address her as 'Master Auror Vance'.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Just like at Madam Malkin's, Harry was forced to stand still while someone wrapped a tape measure around different parts of his body. This time it was a man who spoke with a bit of a high class accent and the tape measure wasn't taking those measurements on its own.

He was quite condescending until Harry introduced himself as _Lord_ Hardwin Peverell. Then that condescension flew out the window as if the man had physically _thrown_ it.

Since then it had been, "I need you to hold your arms out horizontal, my Lord; as if on a cross." And, "Feet a bit further apart, my Lord." That sort of thing.

Once the measurements had been taken Harry was properly fitted for a bespoke business suit, as Sirius said it was important to have at least one so as to do business in the muggle world as and when necessary.

With sizes in hand, Luna began looking through the racks for far simpler muggle wear, for everyday muggle world use, while Harry was having material hung over him. She was building him up a wardrobe from underwear out, from head-wear to shoes. And she would also be adding accessories and body care once she and Harry had the rest chosen.

Harry came away from the fitting section of Menswear with a three-piece suit being custom made for him - charcoal grey with a lighter grey pinstripe; no hat; a suitable-sized charcoal grey business umbrella with a wooden hook handle - 'No _true_ gentleman would go outside without his matching brolly, my Lord'; black Oxfords, not _brogues_ , with a pre-applied high polish; a couple of plain 'pure' white business shirts to wear with it; and matching black belt, with plain silver buckle. All that was set aside to be picked up at the same time as the suit.

Luna then dragged him to the rest of the menswear, where she'd already had set aside a pile of clothes she wanted him to try on and near the change rooms. For the next few hours he played 'dress-up doll' for her and tried them each on with little fuss other than the occasional pained look. Somewhere along the line she'd also managed to corral a shopper's assistant to help, who had taken one three-sixty degree look at him and promptly began adding to the pile - to Luna's delight and Harry's mild chagrin.

Once they'd finished only Harry's shopping, with many many bags set aside to be picked up later, it was already past 'elevenses'. Luna then dragged him up to the food court area and they took a half hour break eating a morning tea.

As soon as Harry finished his tea, Luna then dragged him down to Ladieswear. She wanted to buy more muggle outfits as she'd determined she hadn't enough to match his, Harry's.

This time Luna played 'dress up doll' for Harry, but had a lot more fun doing it than Harry did for her.

After picking out a good dozen outfits from a lady's business suit down to jeans and plain blouses; plus, to Harry's delight, sexy underwear; they were done.

A quick trip back to the Menswear section and they were picking everything up there, minus the still-to-be-made suit and its accessories. Then, loaded with bags, they headed off to an out of the way place to shrink it all before dropping it in Harry's pocket. Then it was back out to the cab rank.

They were back in Grimmauld Place less than forty minutes later.

However, where all Harry wanted to do was go relax and meditate for a while, Luna had him hand all the bags over to Dobby for Dobby to 'de-tag' it all before putting it all away for them.

A quick lunch and then Luna said, "Love, Dobby will have got all that clothing ready to wear by now―"

"Yes, Mistress Luna," said Dobby, from the kitchen work bench. "Dobby has!"

She gave the elf a nod and turned back to Harry. "So, go get out of what you're wearing and dress into something less..." and wiggle her fingers at him, "... 'Combatty'"

"Combatty?" he asked, amused.

"You _know_ what I mean," she grinned back.

"I do," he said, standing up. "I'll go do that now... _buu-uut_... only because you asked nicely.

"I also want to get in some meditation before Remus and Tonks turn up and I give you more lessons on using your magic in a different way."

She smiled and returned, "Sounds like a good idea."

As he was about to leave, he smiled at her and honestly said, "I like that you don't refer to those fanciful creatures when you speak to me."

She grinned back and said, "You know almost all of them I made up. And I like how you, back when we were at Hogwarts together, knew that and didn't say anything."

With a wider grin, he walked over, bent over to where she sat and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for trusting me, even back then."

As she lightly blushed he left the kitchen and headed upstairs.

From where he was quietly watching, Sirius turned a grin on her and waggled his eyebrows.

She just rolled her eyes back at him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

An hour later she went up to his room and quietly let herself in.

Harry was sitting on the floor in a folded-legs, almost full lotus, position with his wrists resting on his knees.

As soon as she stepped in, he opened his closed eyes and looked to her. "Luna? Are they here, already?"

Not immediately answering she walked over to the chair he had at the desk Sirius provided for him in his room, spun it about, sat on it and looked to him. Clearly a little worried, she finally asked, "What do you think of the idea of me moving into here, permanently?"

A little confused, he replied, "I thought Sirius has already given you a permanent room here."

A little amused by her Harry's naïveté she smirked and gave a huff as if a smothered chuckle. "No, silly," she said. "I mean, move in... _here_." And gestured to the bed.

Finally understanding, he grinned back and asked, "I think I would _love_ it. However, it has to be something _you_ want."

She didn't miss the almost pleading at the end. "I want," she grinned.

Happily, he scrambled to his feet, quickly closed the distance between them, dragged her out of the chair and laid a massive hug on her, before then spinning her around with a joyous shout for a moment.

As they both laughed and he put her down, she said, "I'll have Dobby move my things in here, straight away."

As he rapidly nodded his head with a big excited grin on his face, she more calmly said, "Just so you know, Love; I prefer to sleep naked."

"Then I will, too!" he declared.

She grinned back at his clear happiness.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	8. Teaching 'New' Magic

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Glad to see a few of you picked up on the Avengers reference. Have cookies! I now point you towards the 'reboot' movie that came out in 1998 (IMDb ref: tt0118661). It's important to the chapter a little ways in._

 _ **A/N 2:** Concerning Harry's vocabulary. I believe Occlumency would do _wonders _for a person's vocabulary. After all, it's pretty much canon that the Art is useful for memory retention; which means the breadth of his vocabulary will expand._

 _ **A/N 3:** And, yes, I know Harry was being a bit homophobic about Dumbledore's sexuality back in Chapter 6. I haven't written him to be homophobic, but that doesn't mean he won't use others' homophobia to his own ends. You'll see why, starting right now.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter Eight - Teaching 'New' Magic**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Dumbledore was released by the DMLE not much earlier than lunch. He only had enough time to go back to his office and meditate for about fifteen minutes to calm down before he was up and heading for the Great Hall.

Even then, he was still irritable.

'How _dare_ she,' he thought. 'What happened between Gellert, Abe and myself is a private family matter. She had no right to ask about that.'

He knew that was not true, as he did cast a couple of Killing curses. However, they weren't illegal, back then. The curse only became known as one of the Unforgivables after Gellert was already on his pogrom to take over Europe, not before. Which is why she couldn't arrest and charge him for it.

However, she used his 'non-denial' that he'd cast at least one of them to press him for further information concerning his relationship with the man.

He then had to claim he had no idea what the man was going to get up to at the time; and, 'It would be wrong to judge someone for something they _might_ do in future.'

"At the time, he had committed no crime," he firmly retorted to her. "He was simply a young man, barely out of his teens, complaining about his perceived unjust treatment at the hands of the then Highmaster of Durmstrang.

"We spoke about what we'd like to see changed. Not that _either_ of us would actually be in a position to do something about it."

"And yet, you later _were_ in that position; as Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump," pushed Hammer. "Are you saying you _didn't_ use the opportunity accorded to you?"

With a huff and with a certain finality, he replied, "All I have ever done is for the benefit and betterment of the magical world."

"According to _whom_?" she shot back.

He refused to answer, claiming the question to be a nonsense.

When she'd then pushed into his relationship with Grindelwald, he flatly refused to answer by claiming his relationship with anyone, so long as it wasn't otherwise a breach of law, was private and she was being rude by even asking.

"Doesn't matter," she said, sitting back and smirking at him. "You've confirmed it enough _for me_."

After giving that a moment to sink in she said, "Frankly, I don't give a hex what lifts your wand for you. What I _do_ care about, _Mister_ Dumbledore, is the following points: One; as a homosexual male and Head of House, even if it _is_ for the Minor House of Dumbledore, you were required to hand over Headship of your House to your brother... and you didn't do that. Two; back in the first half of the century you had a pre-existing close relationship with the then ICW-declared dark lord, Grindelwald, and didn't disclose it. Three; you've since then been the supposed magical guardian of _two_ young under-aged males... one of which was Harry Potter... and you were required to disclose your sexuality when you applied for the position of magical guardian in both cases. And four; you were required, also by law, to disclose the fact you're a homosexual when you applied for the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Other than disclosing the pre-existing relationship with Grindelwald, that's _four_ blatant breaches of the law, right there. As such, I so far have sufficient evidence to fully investigate. If my investigation into this matter proves my case or cases, you're going before the Wizengamot to be _trialled_."

Before she released him she charged him with magical assault, nine cases based on how many people he had with him and who also cast stunners, when he attacked 'Lord Peverell' in the Alley outside Gringotts. All she was waiting for was to find the Peverell man and get him to lay a formal complaint, before she could then take the matter before the Wizengamot.

"In the mean time," she said. "If I hear of one more case where you've been involved in assaulting anyone except someone wearing _full_ Death Eater regalia or is You-Know-Who himself... your arse is going into one of my holding cells and remaining there until your very soon-to-be-held-thereafter trial. You'll have proven yourself to be an ongoing threat and likely to re-offend; which is all I need to hold someone beyond the limit of seventy-two hours.

" _Stop attacking people!_

"Oh! And, from this moment forth," she said, "I'm having any organisation that has not properly registered with the Ministry proscribed as an illegal organisation. Lord Peverell, if Skeeter isn't up to her old tricks, is right that your silly little Order is an illegal vigilante organisation. From now on, if any of them are spotted at the scene of a Death Eater attack and had no _legitimate_ reason to be there, they'll be arrested and charged."

"You can't _do_ that!" Dumbledore exclaimed, finally having been pushed 'too far'. "People of our society have the freedom to go wherever they want!"

"Hippogriff shit!" she snapped back. "They've _never_ had that freedom. And you, from at least your time as Chief Warlock, are fully aware of that!"

That and others were the reasons the old man returned to the castle in a right royal snit.

How was he to keep the Longbottom boy in line if he couldn't take him to scenes of Death Eater attacks and witness Death Eaters, including Tom himself, being driven off?

Oh, yes. He already knew why Tom was immediately withdrawing and ordering his boys and girls to do the same when young Neville turned up. He had, after all, made sure his then pet Seer, Trelawney, knew the full prophecy.

Prophetesses, those Seers who gave prophecies, never remembered the prophecies they gave. However, Dumbledore made sure Trelawney was shown his memory of her giving the prophecy, on the chance it would have the woman kidnapped and brought to Tom.

It worked. She was, on both counts.

He also made sure she 'knew' that, as long as Tom or any of his minions... his 'hands'... didn't mark the boy, the prophecy wouldn't actually come to pass. And further made sure she 'knew' that, if Tom or one of his minions _did_ mark the boy, then Tom would surely die.

That, too, seemed to work; as each time after that when Neville turned up anywhere, Tom and his forces immediately withdrew.

Oh, yes, Dumbledore was also pleased with how he'd engineered things to allow the Order to turn up at most attacks within minutes of them occurring.

He'd first used an alchemical-based combined loyalty-compulsion potion to create a Death Eater who would replace Snape and report to him. Then did the same with another wizard who would then work the permanent night-shift in the magical detection grid set up within the Ministry of Magic to detect underage magic and locate its source. That second person would, each night, alter what it detected to be a certain set of spells Dumbledore wanted detected; including the Unforgivables, the Dark Mark cloud and ward breaking charms used by the Death Eaters when they attacked a warded home.

For them to contact him he used the idea he'd once 'suggested' to the Granger girl to use within the DA and used himself with the Order medallions; a protean-based charm linking coins that could be used to surreptitiously send instant short messages over long distances. With a slight modification his spy would send a short message letting him know an attack was 'imminent' and he'd call in the Order. Then his monitor spy within the Magic Detection Office within the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, after also being alerted an attack was imminent, would watch for any of the spells on the list to be cast and, once detected, immediately send via their own protean-charmed galleon the location to Dumbledore.

For those homes that were warded, Dumbledore - together with a side-along apparated Longbottom and those Order members who could attend - would often be there before the Death Eaters could finish getting through the wards. For unwarded homes, such as those of the muggleborns, they'd usually be alerted once one of the Unforgivables, especially the Cruciatus Curse, was cast.

Yes, a few people died. However, Trelawney's 'sacrifice' ended up, to date, saving hundreds of lives. In Dumbledore's mind, from a strategic point of view it was well worth it. And he, Dumbledore, was willing to weather the resultant guilt of her death on his own shoulders.

It was, after all, For the Greater Good. And he needed the time to have the boy properly trained and conditioned to meet his own destiny.

He just wished people would stop doubting him and let him do what he knew needed to be done when _he_ decided it needed doing.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

That afternoon, once Remus and Tonks turned up - again, together - Harry had them think of all the main charms, hexes and curses they used in combat. Then had them write them down in list form.

"Just the names, please," he said.

Once they'd done that, with Tonks and Sirius taking the longer times due to their own ongoing self teaching on Sirius's part and auror training on Tonks's part, he asked if they'd finished.

"Actually, it doesn't matter if you've listed them all, just yet," he corrected himself. "Just as many of the ones you're likely to use as possible."

When they nodded back he said, "Now, I want you to think of each one and see if you can think of a one syllable word you'd use in place of the incantation you already use. And write down next to the each spell on your list what that word would be.

"But, remember, you can't use the same word twice.

"While also doing that, try to not use a word that ends in a soft sound; such as 'shhh' or 'sssss' or 'fffff' or a 'double-u' _unless_ it's for a charm that you have to continue to pump magic into, such as a summoning charm. As a secondary task, try to choose a word that also doesn't start with that sound... though it's not really necessary."

"Errr..." said Tonks. "Any examples?"

He nodded and said, "'Shoot' starts with a soft sound, but is still alright to use. However, 'fish' ends with the same soft sound and isn't."

"Whoever would use 'fish' as an incantation?" muttered Sirius.

"It's just an example, Sirius," said Harry.

"What do _you_ use, Harry?" asked Remus.

Harry thought for a moment before he replied, "For the Expelliarmus - _five_ syllables, there - I used to use 'Pull'. However, the double-ells make it a soft finish. So, I switched it to 'Yank'.

"'Yank' starts somewhat soft with the 'Yuh' sound, but ends with a hard 'kay'.

"However, I use 'Come' for the Accio - _three_ syllables - summoning charm, which has a soft 'mmm' sound to finish, but that charm requires the continued pumping of magic until the summoned item reaches you, anyway; so it's neither here nor there.

"Further, the two new incantations, 'Yank' and 'Come' can be linked when you want to rip something out of someone's hand and immediately summon it to yourself so they can't get it again; such as their wand - 'Yank-Come'."

All of them immediately wrote that down.

"Remember," he warned. "That's what _I_ use. You might find... and are welcome to... find better words to use."

"How about I tell you each of what we use and you tell me what word _you_ use, Harry?" asked Tonks. "There's no need to reinvent the wheel, is there?"

Harry gave a shrug and replied, "Why not. Still, you're free to pick a word that better suits the way you think if my choice doesn't suit you."

She nodded and said, "Expelliarmus is Yank, right?"

"Yep," he replied. "And Accio is Come."

"Stupefy?"

"Stun. I know it starts with the sibillant 'sss' and finishes with the soft 'nnn', but I came up with that one before I set my personal rules for what should and should not be used for sounds in words."

"What would you otherwise use?" asked Sirius.

Harry gave a slight shrug and said, "Probably something along the lines of... 'Out', for 'out cold'... or 'Stub', to give it a hard end... something like that."

"Incarcerous?" asked Remus, after they'd written that down.

"Rope."

"Cutting Curse?"

"Cut."

"Duh!" said Sirius.

Harry just grinned.

Undeterred she asked, "Piercing Curse?"

"Stab."

"Protego?"

"Stop."

The Confractus shield breaker?"

"Break."

"Banishing Charm?"

"Push," he replied. "Yes, it has a soft finish, but think about how you have to keep pumping magic through your wand as you incant 'Depulso'. As such, the soft finish helps."

All four nodded.

"The Blasting Curse?"

"Bang."

"Ummm... The Confundus Charm?"

"Dope."

"Conjunctivitis Curse?"

"Blind; but I don't often use it."

"Hurling Hex?"

"Chuck."

"Stinging Hex?"

"Stig, for sting."

"Flagrante Curse?"

"Burn. Soft finish, I know; but needed to continue the flames going."

"Reductor?"

"Boom. Same."

"Incinerate?"

"Ig. Short for 'Ignite'."

"Fire Whip?"

"Whip," he replied. "A favourite of mine against the Jaffa. Scared the crap out of them."

That had Sirius and Remus chuckle.

"Try these ones," said Tonks. "Silencing charm."

"Zip!" he happily replied.

"Zip?" asked Remus.

"As in, 'Zip it shut, fool; I'm talking'," he replied.

That earned him a quick few laughs.

"Petrifier?" asked Tonks, still continuing.

"Hold."

"Leg-locker?"

"Leg," he replied. "You'll also notice I didn't use the plural. That would mean adding the 'Ess' on the end. The sibilant finish is my incantation unforgivable."

More nods.

"Dancing Feet?"

"The Tarantallegra?" he asked. "Actually, I didn't use that one. If I was to create an incantation for it, I'd use 'Feet'. That's not otherwise used."

"The Gouging Charm?"

"Oooh, going a little dark there, Miss Tonks," he said. "Used it, but not in combat. I used it to dig deep holes in dirt and rock, not against another person. Think of one."

"Gouge?" she asked.

"Possible," he replied. "But, while it's one syllable, it requires a long one and has the soft "juhhh" sound at the end.

"Dig," said Remus, firmly. "After all, that's what it's supposed to be used for, right?"

"Right," said Tonks. "'Dig', it is."

"The Severing Charm," said Tonks. "I know 'Cut's already been used..."

"Amp," said Harry. "It's short for 'amputate'."

"Freezing Charm?"

"Never used it. And 'Freeze' has both a soft start and finish."

When no seemed to have a solution, he said, "Come back to it. Remember, you can also use words that actually don't really exist, or you can use another to _represent_ what you want it to mean."

"Knockback Jinx?"

"Ah!" he said. "A prime example of what I just meant. "I used to use 'Push'. However, that has the soft and near-sibilant finish. I then changed it to 'Pud' to give it a hard finish and it goes well with the next jinx I'd next often use; The Tripping Jinx with 'Trip' as the incantation.

"That would allow me 'Pud-Trip', to knock the person back and immediately trip them over while they were off-balance."

As the listings went on, Harry noticed Sirius, especially, had no problem going quite dark with his spells. Many of them Harry never used or knew about and, therefore, hadn't a one-syllable incantation for them.

However, Tonks looked almost horrified at what Sirius was willing to use.

"This is _war_ , Tonks," said Sirius, noticing her reaction. "Not a school-yard _squabble_."

Harry quietly said, "I also had one word incantations for the three Unforgivables. Kill, Pain and Imp."

"What?" exclaimed a scandalised Tonks as Remus also looked worried. "Bu― but, they're _illegal!_ "

"The law concerning Unforgivables applies only to ICW-member countries and those countries that also have the law," he replied. "I was _well_ outside the jurisdiction of them all, remember? As such, I was breaking no laws.

"Further, it was me against thousands of 'devoted to their so-called God' slave soldiers and one race of beings that make Tom Riddle look like a toddler throwing a temper-tantrum.

"I sleep well at night knowing I had no choice, _but_ to use them. However, I was very sparing in the use of them, I assure you."

"I don't think I'm comfortable hearing that," she muttered.

"Good," he firmly said. "You shouldn't be."

After they ran through the spells they'd each listed, with Luna also listing some pretty esoteric spells and telling them how she used them in combat - which gave others ideas they could also use - they took a break.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

SG-1, after making sure watchers were in place at Privet Drive, had tried to find a way into the underground section under the Old War Office in Whitehall. The building, while still in UK Government control, was no longer used as such but was still a heavily protected building.

As soon as the team had managed to get into the basement of the building to try and find a way to go deeper - Potter had informed them he'd estimated he'd been at least one hundred feet below ground - they couldn't find anywhere that would lead them deeper.

Even with 'Mister Steed' apparently greasing the wheels for them to gain access to the records of the building and its history, they couldn't find what they were looking for.

"I think he must've lied," sighed Jack, himself going over the plans.

"I don't," replied Daniel.

"Why not?" asked Jack.

"Look at the underground infrastructure," said Daniel, sliding the engineering plans over. "Underground electricity cabling, telephone cabling, fresh water pipes, sewerage pipes, the Underground rail network... The rest of the city, as you'd expect, is inter-laid with it all. However, under the Old War Office Building..."

Jack, looking for himself between the five different systems on the overlaid maps, saw what Daniel had spotted. "I see..."

"The only other places where they are also lacking is the Palace and a couple of places that are clearly protected," said Daniel.

Then he pointed to a spot off Charing Cross Road, just down from the Tottenham Court Road Underground station, and said, "And, here's another. It's in a spot in the road network that doesn't make much sense."

He had no idea he was pointing at the site of Diagon Alley and Gringotts Bank.

"No underground infrastructure, whatsoever, is laid under the ground here. It's a complete blank."

Sam, looking over Jack's shoulder, said, "I can understand the one under Whitehall. There's very likely a lot of UK military secrets under there and the civilian cablers and engineers had been told it's a no-go area. However, that second one... there's no reason for that."

"Well," said Jack. "While we wait for permission to get under Whitehall, let's go check this second site out and see if there's a correlation between the two later."

That had the team have something to do.

Though he showed no outward signs of it, Steed was a little worried about the 'thinking outside the box' leaps of logic the archaeologist was displaying. BSIS knew he was brilliant, just not _this_ brilliant. And most 'squints' only ever focussed on their own professions and sciences, unlike what the good Doctor Jackson was demonstrating.

'I need to speak with "Mother",' he thought. 'These Yanks are getting _far_ too close to the truth.'

As a high-ranking member of the BSIS, Steed was already 'read-in' to the facts concerning the magical world. And, yes, he knew _exactly_ who Harry Potter was and what he meant to that world.

Also, it was a secret known only to a very small select few that 'Sir John' and the leader of the 'M' world's insurrectionist movement were related; they were cousins through his father's side and even looked somewhat alike. Then there was 'Mother', a squib whose twin brother was the current Professor of Potions at their school; and 'Father', who was a maternal cousin of both Potter and, especially, his now deceased aunt - for whom she was a near-spitting image. _(1)_

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After the seriousness of the short discussion on Harry using the Unforgivables, Sirius and Remus were having fun trying to think of appropriate one-syllable incantations for other spells.

"What about Apparation, pup?" asked Sirius. "Surely you took a great risk teaching yourself that."

Harry nodded and explained, "I actually had an accidental magic event around apparation when I was seven at the local primary school in Little Whinging. I remembered what that felt like.

"Then, during the Tournament, at Hogwarts I once sat in on that Professor Tofty bloke from the Ministry teaching the seventh years how to apparate. I was under my invisibility cloak, at the time.

I thought about everything he said, put it together with what I remembered of the feeling and, in my mind, used the incantation, 'Be _There!_ ' with that twist on the word 'There'.

"Even then I didn't try until the first time I came up against the first scouting patrol of Jaffa, led by their Goa'uld master. They had me encircled and one was about to fire his blasting staff at me.

"I looked at the nearest Hill, the one I sat upon the top of on my first night, and just... did it, with the thought I need to 'Be There!'

"It worked. And I've never even come close to splinching."

"Wow!" said Tonks. "That's impressive."

Remus asked, "Just... 'Be There?'"

"Yes," he nodded. "But with, as Tofty said, first using deliberation and destination in my mind on the 'Be' and determination to be there on the 'There!' as I twisted... It works."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Harry was ready, he had the four of them troop down to the duelling room.

There, he started with Luna first on how to switch from using the incantations they were taught to using the one-syllable incantation method he'd 'invented'. He understood she already had greater trust in him than the others, including Sirius.

Standing at the opposite end from her he loosely held his wand in his hand, "So that everyone gets comfortable with this... and, more importantly, you develop an acceptance in your heart that this is possible... we'll start with something easy and non-dangerous. We'll start with my old favourite, the Expelliarmus Charm.

"Firstly, Luna, I want you to use that charm against me with the supposedly proper wand gestures and incantation. I need you to have a fresh memory of how the magic feels as you successfully cast the charm." He then hesitated to ensure she understood and then said, "Go for it."

With a nod, Luna developed a concentrated expression and cast, "Expelliarmus!"

Harry's wand was immediately yanked out of his hand and flew off to the side a little, not quite back at her.

"Good!" he said, wandlessly and silently summoning it back to his hand. "Again!"

Again she successfully cast and again his wand went flying out of his hand.

"Excellent!" And wandlessly summoned it back again.

"Now, while only thinking of the incantation, 'Expelliarmus', verbally give the incantation, 'Yank'. Remember the feel of your magic for that charm. And keep the same wand gestures, for now."

She gave a single nod, thought hard and slowly incanted, "Yank!"

Harry was surprised when it worked first time for her. His wand was yanked out his hand and went flying.

She happily grinned at him.

" _Bravo!_ " he laughed. "Now, we're going to take our time and slowly stop thinking Expelliarmus; and eventually only think 'Yank'."

"Try again!"

Utterly surprising him, though he was having trouble not saying so, he congratulated her when she got it done after the seventh or eighth attempt.

"Alright!" he called. "The rest of you have been paying attention, I hope. Step in here. It'll be Sirius against Luna and Tonks against Remus. This way, I know your intent is in _no way_ going to allow you to harm your opponent. As such, your magic will not accidentally do that."

Once he had the four inside the warded area with him, facing off against each other as he said, he again instructed on how to do it. This time it was mainly to Sirius and Tonks.

Then he helped Remus, who he knew would have the most difficulty; as his mind was like Hermione's and would rebel against wanting to go against 'known facts'. He did, but unlike Hermione would, he got past it quicker.

By the end of the first session he had them practically at silent and point-casting. However, other than Luna, the other three still needed to quietly mutter the incantation. At least it was the one-syllable new one, though.

Once it was getting on to dinner time, he called a halt and said, "Same time tomorrow, folks. No rest for the wicked, I'm afraid."

Relaxing with a sigh, Remus looked to Harry, smirked and said, "You make a very good teacher, Harry."

"Bloody brilliant!" declared Sirius.

Harry smiled back at Remus and said, "I used the same method you used when you taught us the Riddickulus Charm against the boggart, remember?"

"Yes, but I was only teaching one at a time for that," he replied. "You were teaching all four of us together and spotting problems developing... and countering them... before they became an issue."

"Yeah, but I only have four students," Harry returned. "You had twenty!"

Remus just smiled, clearly not willing to argue the point.

"Alright!" called Harry. "A final pearl of wisdom for you all for today. Two, actually.

"First, you now all _know_ that it is _intent_ that drives your focus to shape what you want to occur; and it is your _will_ that empowers it to happen."

He gave that a moment then said, "The next pearl is, pretty much, from a muggle movie. It's 'Do or do not. There is no try.'

"For you, that means you either _commit_ to doing something or be prepared to _not_ do something. You will not... _Try_. Try is a pre-excuse for failure. When you say, 'I will try' you are silently adding to that in your mind, 'but I expect to fail'.

"As such, the word 'Try' is banned from your vocabularies when applied to yourselves while being taught this way to use magic. Got me?"

Four voices immediately replied either, "Yes, Harry," or, in Tonks's case, she snapped out, "Yes, Sir."

Realising what she'd done, she blushed. "Sorry. Auror training kicked in."

Harry chuckled. "At least I know I have a 'command' voice that has people with military or police training automatically react to it."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After dinner Remus and Tonks left again almost immediately afterwards, Tonks was currently on early morning shifts. And Sirius, Harry and Luna settled down with a good book each.

It was about ten minutes after Remus and Tonks left that Luna, quite nonchalantly, said to Sirius, "Just so you know, I've moved into Harry's room."

"Oh?" asked Sirius, as Harry blushed. "And into what room has Harry moved into?"

Flatly, Luna returned, "Very funny, Lord Black."

Sirius grinned and said, "Make sure you use the contraceptive charms and-or potions and be careful. Otherwise, I've no problem with it."

It was almost a further five minutes before Harry, trying to get his blush under control, asked Luna, "Errr... should I go and talk with your father?"

She smiled at him and said, "That's sweet, Love. But, for a start, Daddy's in Norway hunting Snorkacks. He won't be back for about a month. Even so, I'm of age and a 'big girl' now. I'm free to make my own decisions."

"Still..." he tried.

"Still, nothing," she firmly said. "Down the road... it would be best if you do the traditional thing and go and ask him for my hand in marriage. That, at least, will have the stodgy old traditionalists of our society give their own nods of approval. However, that is some time off yet. Besides, I wish to speak with him before then to tell him he'll be saying yes to your request."

"You'll... _tell_ him he'll be saying yes?" Harry tentatively asked, a little confused.

"Of course!" she firmly replied. "Daddy just wants me to be happy. If I tell him to tell you 'yes' and it'll make me happy, then he knows it'll be safe to reply 'yes' to your question."

"That... sounds oddly logical," he quietly said. "And not a little like the wrong thing to do."

"It's the way it's done these days, Harry," said Sirius. "The traditionalists are satisfied the old ways are followed, while the new progressives are happy the prospective bride is in control of her own future. Everyone wins."

"Sometimes I just don't understand magical society," he sighed.

With a wry smirk, Sirius said, "That's because, a lot of what is considered tradition, can beggar belief in its stupidity."

"I'm just happy that over the past century _marriage contracts_ have been done away with," said Luna.

"Not _all_ of them, Luna," corrected Sirius. "However, only the truly dark families still use them."

"Such as the Blacks?" asked Harry.

"Such as what the Blacks _used_ to be like until I took up the Lordship," he replied. " _I_ won't allow them and I'll be instructing my heirs that the House of Black, as a whole, will no longer deal with them."

"There's not one..." tried Harry.

"For you?" prompted Sirius. Looking back down at his book he said, "There used to be. One of the first things I did when I became your regent was destroy it. It was, according to the Potter family by-laws, illegal.

"Your paternal grandfather, Fleamont, made them illegal for a Potter almost immediately after he became the Lord of your House."

"It's destroyed?" asked Harry.

"Definitely."

"Who was it with?"

Sirius looked up and replied, "Ginevra Molly Weasley."

Harry looked horrified for a few moments before he said, "Ohhh... I feel sick."

"It'll pass," said Sirius.

" _Please_ tell me there's no more," Harry begged.

"There's no more," said Sirius. "And, no, I'm not lying. After finding that one I spent a great deal of time searching for others.

"There were a _lot_ of offers, especially after what happened on that Hallowe'en, but Dumbledore had already refused them all even if he didn't have the right to do so. I merely signed off on them being rejected. The goblins hadn't destroyed them, because they knew Dumbledore couldn't legally reject them.

"The Weasley contract was what led me to officially announce House Weasley as official enemy of Houses Potter and Black after first telling Arthur I wouldn't do that based on Ronald's thievery and his handling of that situation. However, finding that contract was the last cast for me.

"I asked Arthur why he signed off on it on behalf of House Weasley... especially since his father was still alive at the time... and his only answer was because Dumbledore told him to. That wasn't good enough for me."

"Why... the Hell... would Dumbledore _do_ such a thing?"

"It allowed him to pay for the Weasley children to attend Hogwarts out of the Potter accounts," replied Sirius. "It was a condition of the contract that House Potter was to pay for all of your generation of Weasley children to attend Hogwarts."

"That's... that's... _despicable!_ "

"Yes," replied his godfather. "After a kind word from me to Bones, Arthur was able to keep his job. However, William lost his at Gringotts and had to emigrate to find work. He went to France and Fleur's family hooked him up with a French curse-breaking company. Charlie's job at the dragon farm in Romania was fine. And the twins are making a respectable living through their WWW business in the Alley. Percy lost his job at the Ministry, but Bones and I were in agreement he was just a snotty little toady, anyway. He now works for the twins as their bookkeeper. How that young man never went into Slytherin _still_ confuses a lot of people.

"As for Ron and Ginny, their parents were only able to provide enough gold to see Ginny attend in what would have been your sixth year and her OWL year. And the rest of the family, where they could, pooled enough gold for her to attend through to NEWTs. Ron never returned to school after you left, because they couldn't afford for him to attend and it had become apparent that he only passed what OWLs he did because of all the help that Miss Granger provided him. Even his parents figured out quite quickly that, since Miss Granger wouldn't be there for his sixth year, he'd fail. As such, they'd be wasting their gold. They withdrew him.

"Since then the longest he's held a job is for six months when he went to work for his brothers stocking shelves. However, they caught him slacking off one too many times and ordered him to pull his socks up or, as it was their last warning, he'd be sacked. Then, rumour has it, he pilfered from the till and was caught. They sacked him on the spot. Even his mother yelling at them for over ten minutes in public, which is how everyone came to learn he'd stolen from them, couldn't get them to 'rehire' him.

"Since then he's only had the occasional job, but none have lasted more than two months; at which point he's either fired or it's all too hard for him and, according to him, no one should be forced to work so hard for a few measly galleons. At least, that's what Remus and Tonks have been able to learn through the meetings of the Order."

After shaking his head at the stupidity of the boy, Harry asked, "And the red-headed public merry-go-round?"

"Public merry-go-round?" asked Sirius; knowing who he meant, but not why he referred to her as a public merry-go-round.

"You know," said Harry. "Everyone gets a turn or three?"

Sirius looked back in shock for a moment until Luna, who was sitting right alongside him at the time, slapped Harry lightly on the back of his head and scowled at him. Then he roared with laughter.

"Everyone gets a turn or three?" he laughed. "Oh! That's rich!" And roared with laughter again.

"She _used_ to be my friend, Harry," said Luna.

" _Did_ she, Luna?" he compassionately asked. "Or, was she... almost from birth... already aiming to marry the Boy-Who-Lived and other people were just stepping stones on her way to that goal?

"I _know_ she wasn't your friend at school, Luna," he said. "Her and your first year not withstanding, she had nothing to do with you until Hermione forced me to create the DA and you both joined, _did_ she?"

Luna sadly looked away and quietly replied, "No."

Luna's reaction had Sirius stop laughing. "Is Harry upsetting you, Luna? Want me to take him out the back and beat the ever-loving Merlin out of him for you?"

She sadly smiled back and said, "It's alright. Something he said just reminded me of a difficult time in my life. I've already come to terms with it."

"Sorry, Love," said Harry, contritely.

Looking back to Sirius he said, "There was either a badly kept secret or a vicious rumour in my fourth year and into my fifth that, for the price of a couple of sickles a blow-job was available; a galleon got you anal. The only thing I found out was you had to be in a certain broom closet at a certain time with your coins in your hand. I also found out it wasn't a bloke, as I first thought it was, when I found out you got to play with 'her' tits so long as you were also getting one or the other of either a blow-job or anal sex.

"From the way they and other boys were carrying on, it wasn't until I was on Hadrian and had spent time sorting out my memories that I figured out it was Ginny. I figured out that, just from the way both Finnegan and Thomas would instantly shut up about it if Ron walked in, they were likely talking about someone it wasn't safe to mention in Ron's presence. Neville, however, seemed as oblivious about who it was as I was.

"That led me to reviewing other memories and, each time I heard it talked about, I remembered it was when Ron wasn't there. I also saw quite a few times when Ginny would look in some boy's direction, give him a nod and then hurry out through the portrait hole. That boy would follow less than a minute later. Then he'd come in about five minutes later with a dopey grin on his face and another boy would hurriedly leave; or she'd come back in and, sometimes, be still adjusting her clothing. The other girls also gave her the occasional filthy looks.

" _Individually_... I never saw it. Yet, through the accurate hindsight of Occlumency, it became plain as day. Ginny was whoring herself out." He turned to Luna and said, "Sorry, Luna."

She curled into his arm and just rapidly shock her head for a long second. "Not your fault," she quietly said. "I Saw it happening. I didn't want to, but I did. There was nothing I could do for her because she pushed me away."

After wrapping his arm around a cuddling Luna, he asked Sirius, "So, what did Ginny do with her _gift_ of a NEWTs-level Hogwarts education?"

Sirius replied, "Well, she graduated around middle of her year; nothing special, but not a failure like her youngest brother. I'd heard both her parents were trying to get her to accept a position at the Ministry, but she seemed to believe herself too good for that. I guess that's what growing up as a child into your early teens, believing you're already locked in to a destiny of being married to a very wealthy Lord, does to you.

"She tried out for a couple of the professional Quidditch teams of the British and Irish Quidditch League and, I believe, one gave her a reserve position; the Tutshill Tornadoes, not far from her parent's place - and Luna's - in Ottery St Catchpole. As far as I know she's still a reserve with them; chaser."

"Daddy's favourite team," said Luna, sitting up a bit again. "And I think Ginny's moving up into the starting line-up this year. That's good for her career, but a waste of a Hogwarts education."

"And Hermione," Harry sighed. "My pseudo, pain-in-the-bum, big sister. She's... happy and well?"

"She is," Sirius nodded. "She's studying law... both magical and muggle... _or_ , as it is called there, no-maj law. I'm even secretly helping by paying for that. Well, secretly from her parents, at any rate." And grinned.

"Good," sighed Harry again. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome, Harry," he replied. "She, at least... like Luna... stood by you simply because she liked you and wanted to be a true friend."

"One day, once Riddle and Dumbledore are dealt with, I'll have to let her know I'm still alive," said Harry. "Pretty much the rest of magical Britain can go jump in the Black Lake, though."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

This time, once the time was getting on a bit, Luna walked up the stairs with him. And the two entered his... their... room, together.

As Harry undressed, readying for bed, so too did Luna. However, Harry was deliberately not watching her as he knew that if he did 'Little Harry' would pop up and say 'Hell _oooo_... _Nurse!_ ' Down to his boxers, he headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Underwear was something he'd not had access to for years until the SG-1 picked him up. For almost his whole time on Hadrian he had to go commando. Before the 'Veil' he wore white 'Y' fronts bought from the cheap bin at the local by his aunt; the only 'new' clothes he ever received until he bought his first Hogwarts uniform. Now, getting back to Earth, he didn't think he could again wear something that would feel 'restrictive' around his twins.

He also didn't think he could wear pyjamas to bed again, either. On Hadrian he'd 'made-do' with just a transfigured sheet on the bed until he moved to the area where he built Safe Haven. Then it was just a sheet and a light blanket. But he did wear transfigured loose sleep pants, just in case he had to leap out of bed because the Jaffa had found him or something. There was no need for anything else.

As he stood there, having just started brushing his teeth, Luna walked by, starkers, and hopped into the shower.

Surprised, he watched her in the mirror for a moment before returning to brush his teeth.

Finished with that, he used his wand and applied his 'Harry special' shaving charm he'd perfected over the years and magicked himself smooth shaven. It might be 'cheating', but razor blades were non-existent on Hadrian. He also had a charm to clean his teeth, but much preferred the taste and feel of teeth and tongue cleaned by mint flavoured toothpaste.

He'd just rinsed out his mouth and was rinsing his brush under the tap when Luna called, "Join me, love."

Harry was happy to oblige.

His early night didn't turn out to be an early one, after all.

Before going to sleep, he looked to his naked bed partner and said, "I'm sorry and I should have said something, but shouldn't we have been using some form of protection?"

"I won't get pregnant yet, Love," she said, rolling to her side to look at him. "I take a potion that blocks that sort of thing from happening."

He nodded in the low light and said, "You'll warn me before we reach that point, right?"

She smiled and said, "Of course."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning Luna and Harry were up early as he still had a lot to do he wanted to get done as soon as possible.

They were in the kitchen eating breakfast when the _Daily Prophet_ owl flew in and 'delivered'. As Sirius still wasn't down yet, Harry didn't have to fight for it with his godfather.

"While in the Alley I want to subscribe to my own copy," he said.

" _I'll_ have to do it, Harry," she returned. "It won't deliver to you if you use Hardwin Peverell as the subscriber. And the _Prophet_ will know Harry Potter has returned if you use your real name."

He nodded and said, "We'll do _that_ , then."

As he read he saw that Sirius's letter made the front page, but towards the bottom. However, it was included as if he was interviewed for the information, rather than the information being sent to them by letter.

It covered all the main points and was accurate to what Sirius had told him was included in the letter. Lord Hardwin Peverell was the rightful owner of the Potter fortune through primogenitor; Sirius had, though a little reluctantly, handed it over; it had a 'statement' from Sirius stating he would try to monitor 'the Peverell Lord's' handling of the fortune to ensure there was no shenanigans going on; that sort of thing.

By then, Sirius was down and starting on his breakfast. Harry slid the paper down the length of the table to him.

"Front page," he simply said as he returned to his tea.

Sirius read through it and said, "Quite accurate in the details but, as you know, not in that it was an interview."

Harry nodded back and said, "Luna and I are heading straight to Diagon, once we've finished breaking our fasts. I need to go pick up my robes and go into the bank to find out what happened from their investigation into how Dumbledore learned of my presence there, that day.

"Anything you need me to pick up for you?"

Sirius shook his head and replied, "No. I'm fine. Thanks for asking, though."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Luna had finished her own breakfast and had let it settle a bit, she was a much slower eater than him, Harry asked, "Ready to go, Love?"

She nodded and stood. "Let's go."

After flooing to the Leaky and making their way directly to Madam Malkin's - Harry wanted to be wearing a different set of wizarding robes when he stepped into the bank. Once inside, he was offered the small pile and asked if he could borrow one of the change rooms. They were happy to oblige.

Once changed, this time wearing the new forest green with black trim set, but again open down the front for freedom of movement, Luna dropped the rest of the entire lot, plus what he'd worn in, into her ever present clutch-purse and they left.

As soon as they stepped into the bank, before they even made it to a teller, a 'concierge' goblin met them on the floor and said, "Lord Peverell. Axe Lord Ragnok would like a word, if it is not too much trouble."

Before Harry could reply, Luna quietly said to him, "Ragnok is the bank manager, Love."

"Ah!" he said, understanding, before looking back to the worried goblin. "Then, by all means, please escort us to Axe Lord Ragnok."

The goblin gave a bow and said, "Follow me." Then he spun about and walked to the back wall where the doors led deeper within.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With a lot more deference being paid to him and Luna from all the goblins they passed on the way, Harry found himself led by a 'shortcut' directly to Ragnok's office.

This one had two goblin guards with halberds standing each side of the door. The goblin leading the two humans ignored them and knocked on the door in an odd rhythm.

"Enter!" Harry heard barked from within.

The goblin immediately opened the door, stepped within and said, "Axe Lord. I present Lord Potter and Miss Lovegood."

Harry had already walked in with Luna right behind him.

The somewhat old, but clearly fit and strong, goblin behind the desk immediately jumped to his feet and said to the escort goblin, "Thank you, Pickknife. You may return to your duties."

As the escorting goblin bowed and immediately withdrew, closing the door as he walked out, Ragnok walked around the desk and stood before it. Once the door was closed he immediately dropped to his knees and said, "Lord Potter-Peverell. I and Gringotts as a whole, owe you a sincere apology. Your confidential information was released to those who had no right to know of it. I offer my life as recompense."

He then, drawing it from a sheath at his lower back, laid a large knife on the ground before himself, hilt facing Harry, as he bowed his head forward.

A little surprised, Harry was a long moment before he said, "At this point, I do not wish to take your life, Axe Lord Ragnok. Re-sheath your knife, get up and return to your desk. We have matters to discuss."

After a slight hesitation, Ragnok did just that.

As he sat he indicated the two chairs before his desk and said, "Please... be seated."

As Harry sat after first letting Luna sit before himself, he said, "I had come in with the intent of withdrawing all of my wealth from this bank and handing it over to the gnomes of Zürich to handle. However, if I am satisfied with the results of both your investigation and resolution, I shall consider not doing that."

Ragnok nodded and then launched into exactly what had happened, from a Gringotts perspective, as soon as it became known someone in Gringotts had 'sold their honour to the wizard Dumbledore'.

It was discovered there were no less than _three_ Tellers - not, Honourable Tellers - who were taking, not just the wizard Dumbledore's gold, but others as well to alert him and those others to information concerning Gringotts clients. All three had been questioned under goblin truth wards before being beheaded.

The wizards concerned were each fined twenty-five percent of their monetary holdings within the bank, with ninety percent of that being deposited into Harry's Potter vault as recompense.

The only one who tried to complain - via an 'intermediary', Arthur Weasley - was Dumbledore. He lost a further five percent of his holdings to Gringotts for the attempt. And Arthur was forbidden to return to the bank for six months lest he lose his life.

That investigation was, even before then, expanded to the rest of the customer liaison staff; with two concierge goblins and a cart goblin also losing their heads.

With now _six_ dishonourable goblins being discovered, the investigation was broadened to all other staff. A further three were found with one having been the late Peverell Account manager, who had lost his status as the account manager for Peverell when the Potter account manager took precedence and rightfully took control of that account. He'd let it be known that the, until then, unknown wizard in black was Lord Peverell; which is how Dumbledore determined who the wizard in black was. All of them also lost their heads.

Sadly Hooknose, though not beheaded, was moved to another duty for letting slip to the ex-Peverell Account Manager that the one who took the Potter account was 'Lord Peverell'. He was rubbing his rival's nose in it. As he did not tell anyone outside the bank, he technically did not breach confidentiality. However, his slip _led_ to a breach. As such, he was demoted to be the Account Manager of a non-Noble non-Ancient House.

Harry was going to protest, but Luna lightly pinched him on the leg. When he turned to her, she slightly shook her head. That told him enough to not question it. She later told him it was the way of the Goblins and Ragnok would have been deeply offended if he'd said anything.

Their new Account Manager would be Rockgnasher; who was considered by Ragnok to be both a 'go-getter' and more modern in his approach. And Ragnok assured him Rockgnasher would do an outstanding job for the accounts.

The way he fingered the hilt of his axe as he said so, clearly communicated Rockgnasher would do an outstanding job of the accounts or soon be doing an outstanding job of being dragon food.

When Ragnok wound up, Harry just nodded and asked, "I take it, then, you are satisfied you've rooted out all the confidentiality breakers?"

"I believe I have rooted out, as you put it, all the ones I could _find_ ," replied Ragnok. "I am... hopeful... that was all of them. Yet, I must honestly fear I have yet more to find."

Harry gave another nod and said, "Then, as you believe you have resolved the situation to the best of Gringotts's ability, I will... for the time being... _withhold_ in going forward with my desire to transfer all my wealth to the gnomes of Zürich."

As Ragnok seemed to sag in relief, Harry continued, "As long as I continue to witness this... desire made real... of Gringotts to stop the atrocity of breaching client confidentiality, I will remain of the desire to have the goblins of Gringotts maintain physical control of my wealth."

"Thank you, My Lord," nodded Ragnok. "Is there anything Gringotts... or, I, personally... can do for you today?"

"No," said Harry, rising. "I believe that covers it." As he was about to turn away he said, "Oh. There's _one_ thing of what happened two days ago that has been of benefit to me. It is now believed by the wizards and witches of magical Britain that I am Hardwin Peverell; not Harry Potter. I want them to keep believing that until I say otherwise; which will possibly be 'never'."

Ragnok, standing himself, nodded and said, "Then, if you introduce yourself as Lord Peverell when you enter the bank, then that is how you shall be addressed upon Gringotts's soil."

"Thank you, Axe Lord Ragnok," said Harry. "That would be appreciated."

As he spun to leave, he heard Luna say, "Thank you, Axe Lord Ragnok."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

* * *

 _(1) Look up on IMDb, for example, which actors/actresses played what roles. Pay especial attention to who played Steed, 'Mother' and 'Father'._ :)


	9. Longbottom's Confrontation

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Nine - Longbottom's Confrontation**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry and Sirius weren't the only two to read the article that covered the faux-interview of Sirius and what he supposedly had to do with the Potter fortune - hand it over to Peverell. So, too, did practically everyone else in magical Britain; Dumbledore, included.

And he, Dumbledore, was furious.

He had hoped to be able to capture this so called Peverell Lord and 'convince' him to hand the Potter fortune to he, the Great Albus Dumbledore, so the fortune could be used to help the Light defeat Riddle. Once he'd managed to convince Horace Slughorn, with the 'help' of young Neville, to return to teaching at the school he again had a Potions Master he could trust to obe― _follow_ his lead.

That Black, of all people, had been interviewed by the _Daily Prophet_ and informed them the Peverell Lord was the rightful inheritor of the Potter fortune - through _primogenitor_ , of all things - it implied that, because of blood, inheritances were fixed as to where they should go. How was he, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, supposed to be able to convince people that, if they died, they should leave their main bequeathments to be used to combating the dark - therefore, to him - if people like Black came out and spoke about primogenitor, birthrights. It was incredibly frustrating!

Through Black's words, people would now not question Peverell 'stealing' the Potter fortune from him. Now, he had to do it the hard way!

With the word _primogenitor_ now being used, Dumbledore couldn't even appeal to the Wizengamot to undo this, as he saw it, injustice! Those stodgy old pure-blooded bastards would support both Peverell gaining the fortune and Black handing it over to him. _Frustrating!_

It was while he was having a somewhat silent temper-tantrum in his office, after quickly leaving breakfast after receiving and reading the front page of his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ , that he received a floo call from one of his new spies in the Alley. That spy alerted him to the Peverell Lord again going into Gringotts.

Immediately summoning what members of the Order could near-instantly attend, the old man had to wait until they could all arrive before he could leave.

As soon as he had seven, including Longbottom, turn up - with such a magical number of supporters with him he was sure to be victorious - he had them all floo to the Alley with him. He would confront and capture this Peverell Lord and be making Merlin-bedamned sure the Potter fortune would soon be his. After all, it was always rumoured the Peverells had hoards of treasure. Peverell could be satisfied with just that.

Someone should have told the old man that making plans when you're angry was a quick way to ensure failure. If Harry knew, he'd have been trying to hush everyone up from saying anything.

As some old military strategist once espoused, 'Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake.' Some thought it was Napoleon, but it was more likely a para-quote of Sun Tzu.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Another to read that morning's _Daily Prophet_ was, of course, Riddle.

He found the interview article almost uproariously funny. That Black had lost the Potter fortune was what almost made it so. That he knew it would drive Dumbledore insane made it doubly so. No, the only reason he didn't laugh out loud was due to his Occlumency. No funny article in the _Prophet_ was going to break through that. They were a joke, but a different kind of joke from a funny joke.

It didn't stop him from having a quiet chuckle to himself, though; when no one was in the room with him.

However, he knew he would have to―

"My Lord," called a Death Eater, hurrying forward before dropping to his knees the 'proper' seven feet short of his dais on which his throne sat. "I bring important news."

With a mental sigh, Riddle cast the Cruciatus Curse at the man and held it for all of two seconds.

Releasing it, he said, "You have news, yes. However it is _I_ , Lord Voldemort, who will determine if it is important or not."

After initially collapsing because of the Cruciatus, the wizard quickly scrambled back to his knees and gasped, "Y-yes, my Lord."

"Well?" said Riddle. "What is this news _you_ believe is important?"

"My Lord," gasped the wizard. "I believe you will find that the way to find the Peverell Lord is to find the Lovegood chit. My spies in the Alley have informed me the Peverell Lord has been seen in Madam Malkin's with her and been seen entering or leaving Gringotts in her company.

"The only time he is not seen in her company was when he was seen leaving Gringotts while the muggle-loving fool Dumbledore was waiting to confront him. However, after he drove off the muggle fool she was soon at his side again.

"Both were also spotted in the Leaky Cauldron, using the floo together. When I pressed for further information on your behalf, I was also informed it is believed they also _arrived_ by floo together."

'The Lovegood girl, eh?' he thought. 'Interesting.'

Snapping out of musings, he looked down at the wizard and said, "You have done well. I, Lord Voldemort, am pleased with you. Tell Severus I have authorised a dose of the Anti-Cruciatus Potion to aid in your recovery."

"Thank you, My Lord," said the clearly grateful flunky.

Recognising the dismissal for what it was, the minion gingerly climbed to his feet and hurried from the room.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Back on the surface and in the Gringotts Bank banking hall, Harry and Luna were heading for the doors when Luna suddenly stopped. "Oh, dear!" she quietly exclaimed.

Harry stopped, turned back and looked about for what danger she must have seen. The expression of worry on her face showed such existed, somewhere.

Stepping in close, he quietly asked, "What is it, Luna?"

She was a moment, seemingly staring out through the double set of double entrance doors, before she just as quietly replied, "There's about to be another confrontation between you, Dumbledore and some idiot members of his Order."

Frowning in anger, Harry was about to storm over to one of the Tellers when she said, "It is not the goblins who are responsible for him being alerted this time, Love."

"Who?" he asked.

"The sales assistant in Madam Malkin's." With Harry being annoyed she explained, "I believe she was likely compulsed to do so, Love."

He nodded and said, "I suppose he's currently laying in ambush again?"

"In a way," she replied. "He's actually using the excuse of talking to others, while standing in the Alley, to be where he is."

"Can you tell me how many there are?" he asked.

"Dumbledore and seven others, including Longbottom."

He nodded and said, "I guess I'm going to have to go out there and give him a very public magical _spanking_ again."

"Yes," she nodded. "However, be aware that he is likely to go somewhat dark with his magics, this time. And, this time, those watching need to see him doing it."

"So, you don't want me to take him out, first," he said.

"No," she nodded. "Everyone else is a fair target, though."

"Understood," he nodded.

"This time, he's instructed his people to wait until you've stepped off the bottom step before making a move."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Luna. I think I can use that."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Harry stepped out of the bank a couple minutes later, he was alone. Luna had returned to one of the Tellers to have them let Ragnok know that a similar situation to two days earlier was about to occur outside the steps of Gringotts with, near enough, the same main players involved.

The Teller looked at her in shock for a moment when, without even bothering to send a note through the magical slot on his counter, he spun away, hopped off his stool and bolted for the doors at the back.

A little amused, Luna put his 'Closed' notice up for him from where it sat aside on the counter between them, before then walking back to the entrance doors.

She made it there just as Harry looked around, looking for threats, before he stepped off the bottom step.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As Harry stepped out through the outer doors of the bank and onto the small portico 'porch' he almost immediately saw Dumbledore standing off to one side of the Alley about thirty yards up and facing in his direction with two others; one he recognised from the back as Daedalus Diggle, somewhat 'shielding' him from being seen by Harry. Already having been alerted to Dumbledore's presence, it didn't work.

He also saw Neville Longbottom standing with him, but turned away and looking in through the window of the shop they were standing near. From the body language, it was apparent Longbottom did not want to be seen as being with the old man.

Inwardly, Harry smirked, 'So, what I said a couple of days ago has rung true with 'overly-passive little Neville', has it?'

A quick eye-scan also identified for him a few others of those who were at the ambush a couple of days ago. Two were to his immediate left while another pair were to his immediate right. The two on his right were Remus and Tonks, while the two on his left were Ron and Ginny.

He could see Remus was quite worried.

With his head down a little as he looked to the steps, as if watching his footing, he turned his head slightly to give Remus a smirk and a wink. That had the old wolf immediately try to surreptitiously indicate Dumbledore and the two opposite him and Tonks.

Harry just gave a nod, showing he understood.

Then he looked as if he'd just remembered something before turning to look back into the bank.

The three-quarter clockwise turn to look back allowed him to stand in such a way that he could raise his right hand to hip height and make gestures to Remus and Tonks that none of the other Order members could see. He hoped Remus understood he wanted them both to cast at the two on the opposite side of him from them, when the time came to do so.

When he looked in their direction while turning back he saw Remus give him another nod and whisper something to Tonks.

When he turned back it was to see Diggle and the man he was standing with close the gap between them a little, while Dumbledore looked back at Harry between their heads. It was a 'pity' the old twit forgot about his bright light-blue coloured hat, that stood proudly on his head, made him stand out like an illuminated Christmas decoration.

With a cheeky grin, Harry waved at the man and then, deliberately, stepped off the bottom step. However, that's as far as he moved.

He knew that if Dumbledore had wanted to use the same idea of simultaneous casts from his minions to take Harry out, Harry had just defeated it.

Also, if the reason Remus, Tonks and the two opposite them were standing where they were so they could slip in behind as Harry walked off, Harry had also defeated that idea by not moving forward more than half a pace from the bottom steps. It gave them no room to properly flank him.

When Dumbledore still didn't move, Harry waited only ten seconds before he let out a shrill whistle, getting everyone's attention. " _Oi! Dumbdumb Fumblemore!_ " he called out. " _Your_ second _attempt at ambushing an unarmed man is not going to work today, either!_ "

With a big cheesy grin he then flashed the man two thumbs up. " _Points for the pathetic attempt, though!_ "

That had a scowling Dumbledore shove open a gap between Diggle and the other man and stomp down the Alley towards him. Longbottom ducked through the same gap and dogged the old man's heels as Diggle and the man with him turned to follow. If it wasn't for how tall he now was, Longbottom would have had to jog to keep up.

" _Peverell!_ " Dumbledore snapped out loud, storming forward. " _I will have_ words _with you!_ "

" _Oh?_ " Harry called right back. " _Which one's? How about I offer: 'Gaudy', 'Ugly' and 'Eye-Watering' together?_ "

When Dumbledore reached about thirty feet away, he snap-raised his wand and cast a somewhat dark stunning charm at Harry.

Harry simply side-stepped it.

"Now, _that_ wasn't―" Harry started

Then the others all cast. Clearly, Dumbledore casting the first was the signal for the others to cast.

Unknown to Harry, the spell that whizzed by him passed straight through the doors of the bank and tagged a witch who was walking to head out. She'd bonelessly dropped to the floor as the two door guard goblins immediately hustled in and slammed the doors shut.

Knowing he had Tonks and Remus on his side, Harry simply stepped forward and bent forward a little to have the curses from the two Weasleys pass behind while Remus's and Tonks's passed them with the red of stunners and hit them both.

As the Weasley two went down Harry straightened up and was casting at Dumbledore and the others. He didn't bother with the _kara kesh_ , this time.

First, he cast a shield breaker and stunner at Dumbledore, two quick stunners at Remus and Tonks and switched back to Dumbledore. Another shield breaker and his Pud-Trip combination had the old man down on his arse. Switching to the others, he spared a moment for a glance to the two Weasleys and was just in time to wand-swat a bone breaker from Ron away as Weasley spun to revive his downed sister.

A couple more pairs of shield-breakers and stunners at Diggle and the other bloke... Dumbledore was trying to climb back to his feet behind a strong shield... he spun back to the Weasley pair and stunned them both. Ron was foolishly not even looking in his direction when both stunners hit and took them both down; Ginny, for the second time.

Harry was, while doing all this, simply stepping and dodging out of the way of charms and curses launched at him from Dumbledore, Longbottom, Diggle and the other. Remus and Tonks were also casting, but casting to miss. So, Harry only had to make sure he didn't step into one of their stunners while dodging something else.

Another triple shield-breaker, Knock-back Jinx and Tripping Hex at Dumbledore didn't get through the new shield he was employing, but Harry did take out both Diggle and the other wizard while the old man was busy defending himself.

Grinning now, Harry hit Longbottom with a machine gun of school-yard prank spells, forcing Dumbledore to move his shield to protect his new 'golden boy' and opening himself up. And Harry hit him in his left arm with a Severing charm - 'Amp!' - that, surprisingly, got through and cut the old man's arm off.

As Dumbledore squealed and staggered, Longbottom looked at him in shock. So Harry machine-gunned a shield breaker and more school-yard prank spells at the young man. Of the half-dozen, the first five all got through before Dumbledore could get his shield back up.

"Neville!" Dumbledore snapped out, holding the shield up while simultaneously strengthening it. "My _arm_ ; my boy!"

Neville, by this time suffering from a near dozen prank hexes, aborted his own offensive casting, bent down and picked up the old man's fallen arm at his feet.

As soon as did and started to stand again, Dumbledore roared, " _RETREEEEAT!_ " Then cast a dark curse in Harry's direction Harry was horrified to recognise.

As the old man snapped off his curse, from behind it he turned, snatched hold of a fistful of Longbottom's robes and apparated out with him.

Harry however, while recognising Dumbledore had run just from the sound of the crack of the apparation, was already casting at what was coming at him. The _kara kesh_ would likely save him from it, but it would do nothing to protect those in the bank behind him.

Dumbledore had cast _Fiendfyre_.

If Harry didn't contain it... and fast... it would roar right past him and into the lobby and banking floor of the bank. As well as about half a dozen people if he remembered right, Luna was in there. So, too, were all those goblins.

And the fire would rip though that place, consuming all that lovely lacquered wood and parchment as it went, killing everyone.

Having read about the curse in a book in the Black library at Grimmauld Place, he had already figured out a counter for it - he hoped.

As the curse started to take shape with the shape of fiery animals beginning to form, before Dumbledore had even called 'Retreat' Harry was already casting his counter. From reading the book it was written within, he knew controlling Fiendfyre was all about intent and having a will stronger than the caster.

Hoping it was not Dumbledore's intent to kill everyone in the bank before the demon-fire roared back out again and set the rest of the Alley ablaze, he drove his intent forward with his own will.

His idea was a massive, overcharged inverted 'bubble' charm similar to a Bubble-head charm. He wanted to create a bubble that would be so strong that even _air_ could not pass through it. His intent was to encase the curse in the bubble. Then, when the curse had burned off all the air within the bubble, _shrink_ the bubble to completely snuff it out.

With his wand thrust before him and pointing at the curse, he quickly had the bubble formed. Then, even before all the air was burned off, began to shrink it.

However, what he wasn't able to control was the sheer amount of _heat_ radiating off it. His magic could hold it... _was_ holding it... about ten feet from him, but the heat was incredible.

" _Someone bloody help!_ " he roared out, still pumping his will into the bubble. " _Cool it! Cast flame freezing charms and Glacias at it before it gets away from me! Just... not... straight... water!_ "

Almost immediately, he had that. From his side he had both Remus and Tonks casting. Tonks was casting repetitive ice charms while Remus was casting flame freezing charms.

" _Aurors!_ " he heard barked. " _Stand down!_ "

" _Get fucked!_ " Harry yelled back. " _Shut up and naffing help or naff off!_ "

" _Aurors!_ " he heard Tonks yell. " _He's a friendly, trying to contain it!_ Help _him, you morons! Don't cast water!_ "

Chancing a glance over his shoulder at the doors to the bank he saw them swing open as goblin guards poured out in two lines that ran to either side and around him in a wide berth. The doors then slammed shut again.

He had no idea what those armoured goblins were doing or going, but he was too busy to care, anyway.

Suddenly, he felt the heat back right off as he felt on the bubble the effects of multiple-cast freezing charms. Plus he felt magic boosting charms, designed to assist with a magical cast, helping him. _Both_ helped him, actually.

Feeling renewed he focused his will that much harder and finally managed to start squeezing the life out of the Fyre. It took what felt like hours, but was actually about forty-five to sixty seconds, before he had the Fyre squeezed down to a super hot radiant ball about a foot in diameter.

One last drive of will and power and he squeezed it enough to snuff it out. However, he wouldn't let go, just yet. Now he had to allow the pressure to dissipate, lest he cause a pressure-generated explosion.

Another five seconds of releasing and he was finally able to drop the bubble - and instantly collapsed onto his bum on the stairs of the bank.

Suddenly there was a roar of loud applause and cheering. Even the, what he now saw to be, ring of goblin warriors around him - the four aurors who'd turned up late, Tonks, Remus and where the bubble containing the Fiendfyre was - were banging on their shields with the hafts of their halberds in some form of goblin warrior approval.

Remus was the first to reach him and yank him up from the stairs just to lay a massive hug on him. Tonks stood back.

"Right!" snapped the lead auror, obviously the senior of the four. "Who's the _idiot_ looking for a one-way trip into Azkaban for doing something both so dangerous and so stupid?"

"Albus Dumbledore!" snapped an angry Tonks, now walking forward. "That damn stupid old bastard cast Fiendfyre directly at the bank and immediately apparated out with Longbottom!"

"Stay _out_ of this, Tonks," snapped the auror; a Master Auror.

" _Ahhh!_ " she growled out. "Look _around_ you, Stebbins! You have _all_ these witnesses! They will tell you what they _saw_! Dumbledore cast _Fiendfyre_! Lord Peverell, here, captured it, contained it and banished it. He's a _hero_!"

Stebbins glared at her for a moment before he whirled about and barked to the other three aurors in their auror robes, "Start questioning these witnesses! I want statements! _Now_!"

The other three immediately spread into the crowd and started collecting statements. At least, started collecting statements from those who didn't immediately and rapidly leave the area.

Meanwhile Harry, after being released by Remus, collapsed back onto the steps and just sat there sucking in lungfuls of air. He was exhausted. While he used _will_ to achieve what he needed, it still required the expenditure of a significant amount of magic to accomplish.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

While Harry sat there and watched the aurors start doing their job, he heard from behind, "Love?" It was Luna's voice.

Turning to her, she gestured, "You need to come inside. _Now_."

With a nod, and though he really didn't want to move just yet, he climbed to his feet, turned about and walked inside.

Just as he stepped through the doors he heard the voice of the Master Auror call out, "Oi!"

He turned and saw the man stalking towards him. "I need to speak with you!"

"You sound _just_ like Dumbledore!" he snarked back. "Right before he attacked me!"

Ignoring the man, he spun back and walked, staggered really, into the bank proper.

As soon as stumbled in he was confronted with two healers levitating a portable stretcher between them. Luna was standing next to them.

"On the stretcher, Lord Peverell," ordered one of the healers.

"But..." he tried.

"On the stretcher, Love," said Luna. "You're magically exhausted and you need treatment."

Only nodding and slightly sighing in defeat, he took the single pace to the stretcher and practically, bonelessly, collapsed onto it. He didn't even have the energy to lift up the leg hanging off it. Luna did that as the two healers quickly hustled him out of the lobby and through the doors at the back of the hall.

Behind him, if he'd been able to look, he'd have seen the Master Auror, as soon as he stepped up onto the porch of the bank, confronted with two goblin warriors gesturing with the points of their halberds at him and seemingly looking for an excuse to run him through with them.

Stebbins didn't make Master Auror while also being an idiot. With a startled 'yelp' at how close those halberds came to jabbing him, he quickly back-pedalled and decided not to push it. Instead, from the bottom of the steps he 'demanded' to speak with Lord Peverell, immediately. The goblins returned to their posts either side of the entry doors and ignored him.

With a huff, Stebbins went to see how his three aurors were doing interviewing witnesses and, if possible, vent his spleen at them for being slow, negligent, annoying, or whatever excuse he could find. He didn't like how the goblins near made him unintentionally dump a log in his 'undies' and someone needed to feel his ire.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After being forced to drink a 'Dirty Socks' and a 'Rotten Cabbage' potion - at least, that's what they tasted like to him - the Gringotts' on-staff healers let Harry relax for a while as they did their job on him.

He was now sitting on a bed in the little-known Gringotts infirmary. Luna sat with him on the bed, holding his hand.

With a sigh, he said, "That was _far_ too close for comfort, Luna. If I hadn't been able to contain that Fiendfyre..."

"Everyone in the bank... humans, goblins, house elves and all... would have been killed; burnt to death," she finished. "Yes."

"You _had_ to know what was going to happen," he grumped. " _Why_ did you put yourself at risk like that?"

"Me, being in the banking hall, is what helped you resolve your will to defeat the Fiendfyre," she calmly replied. "I Saw that, if I was in there, you would be successful in containing it before it got out of control and killed _hundreds_.

"Further, we're about to receive a very angry Ragnok visiting us. Be humble _and accepting_."

"Hunh?" he asked, turning to look at her.

The doors slammed open and Harry spun to the sound, ready to draw his wand; prohibition against drawing weapons in Gringotts or not.

Ragnok, with two guards at his heels, had stormed in.

He stopped well short of Harry and glared at him for a long moment.

Finally, he demanded, "Are you _trying_ to own my worthless carcass, Lord Peverell?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow in surprise, hesitated a moment and asked right back, "Why, in Merlin's name, would you go thinking that?"

"Because you just went and protected this bank, at the risk of your own life, from a _gar'brek_ snot of a wizard who cast demon-infested cursed fire _right at the doors of my bank_!" The last was with an almost-shouted bark.

"Actually, he cast it at _me_ ," replied Harry. "I just happened to be, at the time, standing in _front_ of said doors."

" _Irrelevant!_ " snapped Ragnok.

Harry was about to argue the point when Luna suddenly squeezed his hand. He realised what she was trying to say to him. 'Be quiet. Don't argue.'

"Gringotts's _axe_ , Po- _Peverell!_ " snarled Ragnok, as he started to pace back and forth at the foot of Harry's bed. " _Now_ I've got to go and do something it really _irritates_ me to do!"

"Oh?" asked Harry. "How may I help?"

Ragnok whirled on him and actually growled.

In a normal wizard, that might have made them come close to soiling themselves, if not _actually_ soiling themselves. In Harry, it just amused him a little. He knew the goblin would not harm him.

Finally, the near-incensed goblin stopped glaring at him, looked away and sighed. "I need to _bestow_ upon you a Warrior's Honour."

'Be humble and accepting,' Harry thought. 'This is what Luna meant.'

"I... do not know what to say, Axe Lord Ragnok," he carefully said. "Is... 'thank you' appropriate?"

Ragnok gave a huff of either annoyance or amusement before he growled. "Yes."

"May I know the nature of this... warrior's honour?" he asked.

Ragnok looked away and muttered something _Ghob-laen_ , the goblin tongue, before he looked back and growled, "A reduction in bank fees of fifty percent, an increase in returns of five percent, _free_ medical treatment for injuries sustained in battle and...," grumbling, " _Recognition_ of your heroism before the High Council."

The look on the faces of the two healers, who'd stepped well away but clearly overheard, told Harry this was a 'big thing'.

Harry gave a nod and replied, "Thank you, Axe Lord. I am honoured to accept."

Ragnok gave another huff and barked, " _Done_!" Then, without a further word, stormed back out again. His two guards had to hurry to catch up.

As soon as the doors swung shut, Luna lightly giggled.

Turning to her, he asked, "Just how big is..." And gestured to where Ragnok had stood. "This?"

" _Very_ ," she replied. "Being recognised for your heroism on behalf of the Goblin Nation, not just the bank, means your name goes down on the Rolls of Honour. In a few years, baby goblins are going to be accorded the name 'Harry' in your honour until they earn their blood names. And they will grow up hearing the story of your brave deeds."

"Poor kids," he muttered.

That had his _girlfriend_ \- and he was surprised he hadn't already thought of her in that way before then - more openly laugh.

" _Mups_ , Harry," she chuckled. "Goblin children are referred to as 'mups'."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Dumbledore was lying in a bed in the Hogwarts infirmary, after only just getting his left arm reattached where it was severed just above the elbow, when six aurors walked in; Master Auror Proudfoot leading.

Still doped up on the pain potions he had to take for the 'reattachment', he was confused to see them.

"What can I do for you... Auror?" he slowly asked.

"You're under arrest, you stupid sack of shit!" snarled Proudfoot.

Not alarmed at how he was addressed due to the pain medication, Dumbledore asked, "I am?"

"You cast _Fiendfyre_ in Diagon Alley!" snapped the auror. "Not only that, but as soon as you did you scarpered.

"You're charged with criminal endangerment of one hundred plus innocent witches and wizards. You're under _house_ -arrest. For the time being, because you're currently under healer-care, your _cell_ is this very room.

"Eight aurors... two at a time... will now be permanently stationed, right here, to make sure you don't go anywhere until you are permitted otherwise by direct order of Director Hammer. If you do, you're to be found, captured and dumped into a holding cell at the DMLE. If you attempt to use your phoenix to escape, you will be caught, your phoenix will be bound and you'll be charged with escaping lawful custody."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that," said Dumbledore.

Snarkily, Proudfoot shot back, " _I'm_ afraid I don't give-a-shit what you will or will not allow. This is ordered from Director Hammer's own hand. Therefore, it's going to happen."

As he was about to turn away, he hesitated, turned back and said, "Oh! And, if you _do_ escape. The law that orders anyone who escapes lawful custody is to be put to death is still on the books."

Then he spun about and walked out. Two aurors, a Senior and an Auror Second Class, remained behind and each side of the doors leading back out into the castle proper.

The latest school medi-wizard, who'd heard the aurors come in and came out of his office to investigate, watched the whole thing in silence. When all of them, bar two, left again he looked at Dumbledore, sitting propped up on his bed, and shook his head.

'I'm beginning to understand why the last three all quit,' he thought.

He'd only been there three months.

He was the first of his colleagues to be informed Dumbledore was still trying to engineer the situation by putting the medi-witches and -wizards in a position where they'd have to quit, then demanding he have Pomfrey back, 'since she never had a problem with the position'. And he was already alerted to be on the lookout for such attempts by the old man.

He knew it would never work anyway, but Dumbledore had apparently adopted a strategy he felt would lead to him not being denied. He would simply keep pushing until there were no medi-witches or -wizards left to take the role _except_ Pomfrey. And that was never going to happen.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Harry showed he'd somewhat recovered some of his magical reserves, the healers allowed him to leave. However, he had to 'faithfully promise' he was heading directly home and remaining there for at least a full day.

To make sure of it and that he didn't get into any more trouble between here and there; he was 'allowed', for no cost, to use a Gringotts internal floo to floo home. Luna still had to pay a sickle though.

Popping out of the floo at Grimmauld Place and after passwords were exchanged, Sirius demanded to know what had happened to make Harry look so haggard.

Luna explained, while Harry slumped into the nearest armchair.

When done, she said that someone needed to let Remus and Tonks know what was going on, but not to send a Messenger Patronus.

"Why not?" asked Sirius.

"They're still at the DMLE getting questioned about this morning," she replied. "But, don't worry, they aren't in trouble. They used the excuse they were doing their own shopping and were 'in the wrong place at the right time'."

Then she looked off into space for a moment and said, "Don't worry about sending them a message. They'll be here almost direct from there, anyway."

They were, too; stepping out the floo only half an hour later, having flooed from the Ministry atrium.

Harry was asleep on the couch with a light blanket over him. He'd only drowsily looked at who'd stepped out of the fireplace before ignoring them and dropping back off to sleep again.

Before they could ask questions and demand answers, Sirius directly hustled them both down to the kitchen; where Luna was eating a lunch. Harry had already begged off.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

From the infirmary, Proudfoot took his other four aurors and went up to McGonagall's office along the Transfigurations corridor. Knocking, he let himself in.

Minerva McGonagall looked up in surprise at her uninvited 'guests'. After a hesitation, she irritably asked, "Is there something I can do for you?"

Proudfoot, standing not far inside the door, replied, "Albus Dumbledore is currently under house arrest in the infirmary. As such he cannot carry out the role of Headmaster. As such he is also _suspended_ as Headmaster. You are now Acting Headmistress."

"Oh?" she asked.

Ignoring the implied question, he continued, "If Albus Dumbledore leaves that infirmary... for _any_ reason... and you know of it, until you are informed otherwise directly by an authorised officer of the DMLE you are to send a Messenger Patronus direct to Director Hammer informing her of that. Do you understand?"

"I... don't think I appreciate―" she started with a huff.

"I asked you a question!" he snapped over her. "If Albus Dumbledore leaves that infirmary... _for any reason_... and you know of it, until you are informed otherwise _directly_ by an authorised officer of the DMLE you are to send a Messenger Patronus direct to Director Hammer informing her of that. _Do you understand?_ "

"Yes," she gritted out.

"I accept you have informed me you understand your DMLE orders concerning Albus Dumbledore," he said. "You are also ordered to inform the other denizens of this castle of the same. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she grumbled.

"I accept you have informed me you understand your DMLE orders concerning informing the rest of the denizens of this castle of the first order," he said. "That's all I need. Should you fail to comply with either order you will be arrested and charged with failing to comply with a DMLE order. You have been warned."

Then he spun about and stormed out again.

As she sat staring at the door, she suddenly slumped back in her chair and sighed. "Bloody _Hell_ , Albus," she muttered. " _What_ have you done, now?"

Her epithet reflected her half-blood status and being raised by a muggle church leader.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

From finishing his call from General Hammond, not happy with the decision reached, Jack approached the group from SG-1 and BSIS.

"Problem, Colonel?" asked Sam.

"We've been ordered back to the SGC," he promptly returned before turning a dirty look at Steed.

The Brit just gave him a bland look back.

"Apparently, the higher-ups have come to an arrangement with the Brits' higher ups," he continued. "They're now taking over the full investigation and search for _our_ Mister Potter."

The slight emphasis on 'our' wasn't missed.

" _Our_ Mister Potter," disagreed Steed. "He is, after all and by your own admission, British. I also remind you, you are on British soil. As such, the search for a missing Brit, on British soil, is the purview of the BSIS."

"How long have we got?" asked Daniel, seeing Jack had already 'lost'.

"None," Jack grumbled. "Get packing; the flight's already being warmed up. We're off the ground inside the hour."

Surprised at the sudden turnabout, the members of SG-1 quickly moved to where their cots were set up behind a curtained-off area and were soon packing.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry finally rose shortly before dinnertime and, before anything else, went up to his room to wash his face and hands.

Once that was out of the way he made his way down to the kitchen, dropping into a seat. The other four - Sirius, Luna, Remus and Tonks - shut up what they were talking about as he walked in.

"Feel better?" asked Sirius, once his godson had sat.

"Much," he replied. "That... having to hold and deal with Fiendfyre... was a real bitch."

Tonks said, "It'll be on tomorrow's front page of the _Daily Prophet_ , too, I bet. It was quite an impressive feat, especially considering Dumbledore was the one who cast it in the first place."

"Just a matter of having a stronger will than Old Wrinkle-Nuts," said Harry.

Sirius, drinking a cup of coffee at the time, coughed it up. Remus leaned over and slapped him lightly on the back a few times... 'helping'.

Once his airways were clear again, though he had tears in his eyes, Sirius chuckled. "Old Wrinkle-Nuts, eh? Good one!"

"As we were saying to these two, Harry," said Tonks; "Hammer put Dumbledore under house arrest in the Hogwarts infirmary.

"She's also ordered that, if he leaves that infirmary and one of the other denizens of the castle see him do so or know him to have done so, they're to immediately send a Messenger Patronus to her to let her know. Then the old man gets caught and goes into a DMLE holding cell."

"She's really had a gutful of Dumbledore's illegal vigilante group," said Remus. "Her words, not mine.

"According to what she told us, at the next meeting of the Wizengamot she's demanding it be made a proscribed organisation and, anyone caught being a member of it, going to prison. In other words, she agrees with Lord Peverell's opinion stated in yesterday's _Daily Prophet_."

Harry gave a snort and muttered, "Should have been done even back in the _last_ war."

After getting a cup of coffee from Dobby, he said, "Sorry about not being available to teach you more of my way to do magic."

"Don't worry about it, Harry," said Remus.

Sirius added, "You're under orders by a recognised healer not to use, or severely curtail at least, magic until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, right?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Then you'll be doing that," nodded Sirius. "That means, no going anywhere until at least after lunch."

While Harry was now an adult and Sirius couldn't really order him to do anything, let alone the fact he was a Lord in his own right, Harry decided to go along and grumble-replied, " _Fiiiinnne!_ "

Sirius gave another snort and said, "If I needed any proof you're the real Harry Potter, it was that response. _That_ was _puuurrre_ Harry."

Harry just wryly grinned back for a moment, before he forced his expression back into a scowl.

Sirius just grinned at him, knowing Harry was putting on the expression because he felt like it.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Boarding the flight on the British-owned transport less than an hour later, Jack was the last to board. He was standing with Steed, slightly apart from the aircraft; a 'commercial' business jet, of all things.

"I don't know what you did, _Mister_ Steed, but I do not like it," he said.

Steed just gave a soft smile back and said, "It seems other NATO countries are being read in to your Stargate programme. _Our_ folks will be joining _your_ folks very soon. It has something to do with something in Antarctica."

As Jack continued to scowl, Steed added, "Don't worry about Mister Potter. We'll find him and we'll handle the situation."

Jack didn't say a word back. Instead, he gave an annoyed huff, turned and stalked to the boarding ramp at the back of the aircraft. And, without looking back, walked onboard.

The aircraft immediately 'buttoned up' and, just as immediately, began taxiing. It was in the air only ten minutes later.

Steed stayed where he stood until it was a dot in the sky. He knew of, but paid no attention to, the approach of his partner.

Finally, he turned to her, smiled and said, "That's them away."

Hoffstead only nodded back and said, "'Mother' wants a word. He's expecting your call."

"I thought he might," said Steed.

Ten minutes later and back in the hanger, Steed was on a secure call to BSIS headquarters.

"Hello Mother," he quietly said, once the call was connected.

"They're gone?" asked 'Mother'.

"Yes," he replied. "The secret of the British 'M' community is, once more, protected."

"Good," said the male voice on the other end of the phone. "They'll be met in Washington by American members of their 'M' community. They'll be... _convinced_... not to initiate any further concerns about the young hero of that world. Given time, it shall fade from their consciousness."

"Nice and tidy," said Steed. "As things should be."

"As things should be," agreed the voice before the line went dead.

Watching as Steed re-cradled the phone, Hoffstead asked, "Where to next, Mister Steed?"

Turning a light smile to her, he turned from the phone and offered his nearest elbow. "As always, Miss Hoffstead," he said as she took his elbow, "In the service of Her Majesty."

The two walked out.

Two minutes later, a silent team of folks rapidly entered the hanger and, just as rapidly, soon had it stripped bare of anything to do with the 'mission'. They were gone within fifteen minutes.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Riddle had been growing concerned for a few days that, with the sudden appearance of the Peverell Lord on the scene in magical Britain, there was a significant shift in where things were heading.

Plus, the minions were growing restless again.

He'd been wondering what to do when a minion hurried in and fell to his knees before his dais. "My Lord, I bring news."

"Speak," said Riddle, rising to his feet.

"A spy within the aurors informs me the Hammer-bitch has placed Dumbledore under house arrest at Hogwarts... for casting Fiendfyre in the Alley this morning," said the Death Eater. "Further, she has placed a rotating team of eight aurors, with two on the old fool at all times, to watch over him."

Riddle had already received the report of the second battle between the Peverell Lord and Dumbledore and his supporters; and that the Peverell Lord had won. He also knew Dumbledore had an arm severed and that he had cast Fiendfyre during his escape.

That last piece of information, alone, utterly stunned Riddle. He had no idea the old man would stoop to such an act.

"The old fool has been told that, should he leave the infirmary of Hogwarts without the direct authority of the Hammer-bitch, he will be again arrested and then dumped into a DMLE holding cell.

"My spy also informed me Hammer and Bones are trying to manipulate things so that, once they can get Dumbledore before the Wizengamot in trial form, they will be successful in their case."

"Of _course_ they would be trying that," muttered Riddle.

Starting to pace back and forth, he began to think on how best to use this information.

'Dumbledore would have just had his arm reattached; so, he'll be stuck in a bed for at least the next twenty-four plus hours,' he thought. 'Plus, Hammer has now put aurors on him, who will practically _sit_ on him if he tries anything.

'The old fool will not allow Longbottom to go anywhere without him there to "protect" him. That means, for the duration of the old bastard's house arrest, Longbottom is stuck at Hogwarts.'

Whirling around, he looked across those minions of his who were currently 'attending' him and said, 'Summon my Inner Circle! In celebration of the Peverell Lord's defeat, yet again, of the old muggle-loving fool we shall engage in a _revel_!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Waiting only three quarters of an hour after their flight lifted off from Brize Norton and finally reached cruising altitude, Sam asked Jack, "If you don't mind responding, Sir; what was _that_ all about?"

Still miffed about being turfed off the investigation and effectively out of the country, Jack replied, "It seems some of the NATO countries are now being read into the program. Worse still, it seems they're going to be joining us in future. It's something to do with whatever is happening down in Antarctica."

"The Ancient's base?" asked Sam, shocked. "That's... odd."

Jack nodded and said, "I do not doubt we'll find out more of what is going on once we get back to the SGC."

What he hadn't mention, but was worrying about, was his verbal interaction with the General. The man didn't sound... 'right'.

None of them yet had any idea they were heading into a 'Foothold' situation at the SGC. The SGC had been secretly overtaken by an alien race that had snuck in through the gate while one of the off-world teams was returning. They would be further surprised when they learned that the alien race also had 'glamour' technology and were using it to take the places of certain high ranking members of the SGC and other military personnel.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Later that afternoon, after finally being free of the pain potions and able to properly think strategically again, Dumbledore tried hard to order the aurors away again.

He tried to order that, as Headmaster, he had the right to declare them trespassers. They responded that, if so, then he would be leaving with them and going directly into a holding cell at the DMLE.

Using the floo in the infirmary he even contacted Hammer, direct, and demanded she pull them out. She called him an idiot for trying and shut the floo off in his face, ejecting him in the process.

He tried to have the staff rally behind him to force them out. The staff refused, with McGonagall citing they were under DMLE orders to report him if he tried to abscond from the infirmary against a lawful DMLE directive.

It was while he was trying to figure out a way to manipulate the wards to block any DMLE auror, while also allowing Tonks to enter for Order meetings, that his special galleon vibrated and warmed up in his pocket. It was the one linked to his alchemically potioned spy within Tom's ranks.

With a start, he realised he'd not be able to get away with Neville to give the boy more experience and cementing his belief he would be the one who had to fight Tom, one-on-one.

With a sigh he pulled out the one paired with his 'agent' working in the magical detection grid office at the Ministry and, trying to appear nonchalant to the watching aurors as if he was just fiddling with the coin, sent the message alerting the agent to the attack planned for that evening.

Slipping the coin back into his pocket he drew his wand and sent a Messenger Patronus to his deputy.

When she turned up he cast a privacy charm over the two of them and quietly said, "Tom's planned another attack, tonight. I need you to summon the Order to meet me here."

"Is that wise?" she asked, indicating the two aurors.

"I'll explain it's a private conversation and they have no reason to listen in," he stated.

"They'll _still_ be curious," she warned.

"Better they be curious than knowing," he firmly returned.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Trying to work around the fact two aurors were watching him, Dumbledore had to speak individually or in pairs with many of the members. He eventually used Filius Flitwick as his go-between between the Order and himself to let them know when and where the next attack would take place.

"This is a foolish way to do things, Albus," the little half goblin and Charms Master scowled.

"And yet it is the only way we can," the old man returned.

"You can always hand over the reins of the organisation to another until you manage to rid yourself of your auror guard," suggested Flitwick.

Dumbledore just scowled back and, almost imperiously, said, "I'm afraid I cannot do that. There is so much of what is going on I simply cannot share with anyone else."

"Hubris," snapped Flitwick.

Eventually, the signal of the co-ordinates of where the attack was taking place was received and Dumbledore immediately created the portkeys for the members.

As soon as the auror guard saw what the old man was doing, though, they immediately moved forward towards him. And stopped when they saw the items used being handed off to the Charms Master.

Flitwick hurried from the room with them.

Less than ten minutes later Longbottom strode into the infirmary and, not even waiting for Dumbledore to erect anti-listening and -surveillance wards, proceeded to verbally rip into the old man.

"So you've refused to grant me permission to go, have you?" he demanded of the old man. "Need I remind you I'm a lawfully recognised adult... and _Lord_ of a Noble and Most Ancient House? Who... _the fuck_... do you think you are to _attempt_ to refuse me permission to do _anything?_ "

After rapidly throwing up silencing and anti-listening wards, Dumbledore tried, "Now, Neville―"

" _Lord Longbottom,_ you _peon!_ " Longbottom loudly snapped back.

Suddenly glaring back at the insult, Dumbledore was a moment before he quietly said, "Be aware of with whom you are speaking, Mister Long―"

" _Lord_ Longbottom, _Mister_ Dumbledore!" Longbottom barked.

With an angry grimace, Dumbledore again hesitated before he quietly said, " _Lord_ Longbottom; be aware of with whom you are speaking."

"Oh, I _am_!" said Longbottom. " _Someone_... who seems to think they have some _right_ to order me about. _Someone_... who seems to think they have the _right_ to _deny_ me something as if they're my _master_! _Someone_... who will _cease_ with that nonsense... _immediately_!

"If you don't cease with that nonsense... _immediately_... I'm _gone_! I will take my grandmother and my parents and move overseas. I will be gone within the day."

As the two then glared at one another, Longbottom finally slumped as if in defeat. In a much quieter voice he almost whined, "Did you _see_ what Peverell did to me when you weren't specifically shielding me? Did you see the sheer number of hexes he landed on me?

"At least _seven_ , Albus. He hit me at least _seven times_ and I couldn't even get _close_ to landing one on him."

"They were only _prank_ hexes, my boy," said Dumbledore.

"Yes," said Longbottom, again getting a little irritated. "But, you're _not_ getting it, are you? You're not understanding... or accepting... what that _means_.

"He hit me at least seven times, even _with_ you actively protecting me. Yes; they were prank hexes. However, they didn't _have_ to be if he didn't _want_ them to be. He could have just as easily launched deadly curses with the same effect - and I would be _dead!_

"Don't you get it? He was _playing_ with me. He did not see me as a _threat_. And, if _he_ can so easily give me a magical spanking, even with you there, what is You-Know-Who going to be like when he finally stops running from me?"

"We won't know until―"

"We already do!" snapped Longbottom. "That evidence was firmly cast at me yesterday morning; and only an utter _fool_ would refuse to accept the truth of it. If You-Know-Who finally stops running from me, _I'm toast_!"

As Longbottom was almost panting in exertion at the force he was mentally employing to get the old man to understand what he was getting at, it gave Dumbledore the time to rebut.

"Neville, my b―"

" _Lord Longbottom, you fucking arsehole!_ " screamed Longbottom, snap drawing his wand.

That shut the old man up. He even winced. And Longbottom's wand, unknown to him, was spitting sparks onto the floor as he held it pointed down. Dumbledore saw it, though.

"I've _never_ given you leave to address me so... _cavalierly_ , old man," snarled Longbottom. "You _used_ to always address me as Mister Longbottom. You always did... right up until Harry went through the Veil. You used to so cavalierly address _him_ as 'Harry, my boy'; never as Mister Potter, unless you were annoyed with him.

"Harry goes through the Veil and... what do you know?... you start addressing _me_ in your _condescending_ cavalier manner. Well, it ends today, you wanker. Do it ever again and I will swear on my magic and my very life that I will not go after You-Know-Who until I have certifiable proof that you are already _dead_."

As Dumbledore gaped back in shock, Longbottom continued, "At which point... Albus, my boy... it'll be _For the Greater Good_ that you _kill_ yourself."

"Nnn- Lord Longbottom, y-you _can't_ be serious!" the old man stuttered.

"Well, it seems to be working already, doesn't it?" Longbottom snarked back. "Remember this, _Mister_ Dumbledore... it is _you_ who needs _me_... _not_ the other way around.

"This will also be the _last_ time you ever make decisions for me. Do it again and you'll never see me again!"

Without waiting for Dumbledore to reply, he spun about and stormed back out of the room.

Scowling worriedly at the back of the retreating young man as he walked out the door, Dumbledore was annoyed even further when he saw both aurors at the doors were grinning at him. They might not have overheard what was said, except for the opening words, but that didn't mean they couldn't see that Longbottom had given the old man a right royal telling-off.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	10. A Light Schism

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Ten - A Light Schism**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Down for a later breakfast than had become their norm the next morning, Harry and Luna were now 'busy' first thing in the mornings, the two walked into the kitchen to find Sirius was already down and reading the _Daily Prophet_. He'd already finished his breakfast and was drinking a cup of coffee at the time.

When the two walked in, as soon as Harry sat Sirius slid the _Prophet_ down the table to him. "Front page," he said, by way of explanation.

Unfolding the paper from the single fold Sirius made in it before sliding it down, Harry saw what his godfather meant; there was an attack on a pure-blood home the previous evening.

The _Daily Prophet_ were all up in their wands, not just because the home was a pure-blood one, but because the Order had turned up and _not_ managed to drive them off without injury again. Actually, one of the Order members had been killed - Daedalus Diggle.

Apparently, Tom had sent his Death Eaters to attack the home of the Davises and had just managed to break through the 'surprisingly' strong ward on the property when members of _'Dumbledore's illegal vigilante group, the Order of the Phoenix'_ , as per according to the _Prophet_ , turned up and attacked the Death Eaters.

In the short skirmish, where the order members were obviously expecting the Death Eaters to portkey or apparate out at any moment, they didn't. The anticipation they would and didn't left the Order flat-footed; and, in the skirmish, Diggle was killed by a Killing curse from close range.

The _Prophet_ then went on to say that Diggle had no one to blame, but himself, for getting killed; as the Order of the Phoenix _'has, for far too long, been interfering in the work that is the rightful responsibility of the DMLE'._

Then they called for Dumbledore to be questioned and charged _'for the illegal acts of he and his vigilantes'_

After reading it and looking up, Harry looked to Luna and asked, "Why do I know the name 'Davis' from somewhere?"

"Tracey Davis," she replied. "She was a Slytherin in your year, but not one of Malfoy's sycophants.

"Her home has been attacked by Riddle before. That time, her father and younger brother were killed, while she and her mother were able to flee."

Harry, remembering where Luna included that in her scrapbooks, sighed and said, "I'd always noticed there were Slytherins who didn't seem to follow the same agenda as Malfoy. However, when I raised that point with Ron and Hermione, Ron would go spare about how all Slytherins were naturally evil and those who didn't look like it were just better at hiding it that the others; and Hermione would go on about how Dumbledore would let them know if there were ones who weren't likely to follow Riddle. As he hadn't, they therefore must be Riddle followers."

"Actually," she said, "I'd say only about a _third_ of Slytherin students, back then, were going to be followers of Riddle. There was also about a sixth to a fifth of Ravenclaw who were the same."

"In other words," said Harry. "Contrary to what Ronald would keep banging on about, not all Slytherins were 'evil slimy snakes' just waiting for the next dark lord to pop up."

"No," replied Luna, as Sirius said, "Definitely not."

Sirius interrupted and said, "You missed the other main article below it, Harry. It's on your second confrontation with Dumbledore and your handling of the Fiendfyre."

Harry looked back down at the newsparchment and spotted it. He didn't know how he'd missed it, as it had a wizarding photo of him wrangling the Fyre.

"Hunh!" he muttered, as he began to read.

Once done he looked up and said, "Accurate enough. Thank Merlin they didn't know about the Warrior's Honour Ragnok declared he had to bestow upon me."

Sirius coughed up his coffee, but at least it wasn't as bad as the previous day's 'effort'.

" _He what?!_ " he spluttered.

As Luna snickered, Harry calmly replied, "He _claims_ I'm now a hero of the Goblin Nation and, as such, just _had_ to bestow a Warrior's Honour on me."

As Sirius stared back, he finally demanded, "In _what_ form?"

"Ummm... A reduction in bank fees of fifty percent, an increase in returns of five percent, _free_ medical treatment for injuries sustained in battle and recognition of my heroism before the goblin High Council," he replied with a shrug.

Sirius just stared back in shock for a long moment.

"Pup!" he finally exclaimed, shaking off the shock. "Bloody... _Merlin's hairy nut sac!_ Do you know what that _means?_ "

"Yeah," he grumped. "At least one poor goblin kid... mup... is likely going to get lumbered with the name 'Harry' until they've earned their blood name. Leastwise, that's what Luna tells me."

Developing a pained mien as he put his elbows on the table before resting his forehead on his cupped hands, Sirius almost whined, "It means _far_ more than that, Harry."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that," he said. "Ragnok looked quite irritated when he said he had to do it."

With a sigh, Sirius looked up and said, "It _means_... the goblins now accept you as a _warrior_ on par with a goblin warrior. No longer will a goblin sneer at you when you enter the bank. They see you practically as _kin_ \- a goblin in a wizard's body - a fellow warrior.

"You're going to need to be taught how to return a goblin salute. It could be seen as an insult if you don't return such in future.

"More than that, anyone else in the bank at the time is also going to see you get saluted _and your returning it_."

"Ah!" said Harry, now understanding. Then he shrugged and said, "What's done is done. There's no point in crying over spilt potions."

The pained expression didn't leave Sirius's face, though.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At Malfoy Manor, Voldemort read the two relevant articles in that morning's _Daily Prophet_ in reverse of how Harry had read them.

He already knew about the revel - attack - and wasn't interested in what the _Daily Prophet_ wrote about it. They usually got specific important details wrong, anyway; which actually worked in with his plans to sow misinformation in the minds of the masses.

However, the _Prophet_ was accurate with some important details; such as how Dumbledore and Longbottom weren't there. That confirmed Dumbledore was under 'house' arrest at Hogwarts. And, that Longbottom wasn't there, also confirmed to him that Dumbledore was keeping the young man close by at all times; not letting him out on his own.

It was also accurate in that the Order did not drive he and his Death Eaters off. And was also accurate in that the Order were forced to back off and 'hunker down', waiting for reinforcements; which came late. The Order were only saved from imminent slaughter by the arrival of Hammer and her aurors turning up, _en masse_.

He was more interested in reading the yet another front page article about the young Peverell Lord.

'An interesting way to deal with Fiendfyre,' he thought. 'Starve it of oxygen with an inside-out Bubble-head charm and smother it that way.

'But, for _Dumbledore_ to have been the one who cast it... Not so much a Leader of the Light after all, are you old man?' And lightly chuckled. 'Oh, how the mighty have fallen...'

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After reading the same article for himself, Dumbledore so mightily scowled at it you would think he was trying to burn the offending piece away from, not just the newsparchment in his hands, but the minds of everyone who even thought of reading it.

The loss of Daedalus was upsetting. However, in war, soldiers die. He was doing his best to save everyone on both sides, but death in combat was as inevitable as the sun rising in the east each morning; no matter what he did to try and minimise it happening.

Still stuck in the infirmary, he sent a messenger Patronus to both his deputy and young... _Lord_ Longbottom.

'That boy is becoming far too independent for my tastes,' he mentally sighed.

When both entered, together, he tried to be his normal genial self. "Ahhh... Good morning!" Looking to McGonagall, he pleasantly said, "I wonder if I may bother _you_ to erect the anti-listening and -spying charms, this morning, Minerva."

Without a word, McGonagall did precisely that; making sure to include the old man, Longbottom and herself within the field she erected.

"What do you need, Albus?" she asked.

Longbottom just stood there, looking both dejected and annoyed.

"Ah!" he muttered. "I wanted you here so that, next time I spoke with young Neville, he―"

That was as far as Dumbledore got before Neville _moved_. He drew his wand and snapped off a very quick stinging hex that nailed the old man in his cheek before Dumbledore even had a chance to raise his wand and fend it off.

Dumbledore had his wand in his hand, but resting on his bed, as the two walked in and had only managed to start to lift it in reflex before Longbottom's stinger hit him.

" _Argghhh!_ " Dumbledore exclaimed in pain, quickly closing his eyes for a moment and raising his offhand to lightly touch his cheek as he winced.

After the wince he opened his eyes and lowered his hand to see Longbottom aiming his own wand, right between his eyes; with his arm at full extension and from a range of only four feet from wand tip to him. The look on the young man's face was murderous.

"Sorry!" Dumbledore was quick to blurt as he watched the young man's very steady wand tip glow with the dark orange of a blasting hex.

"No, you're not," said Longbottom, with the flatness of Occlumency in his voice. "You deliberately had Madam McGonagall here because you assured yourself I would not react violently in her presence. You were wrong. You are _not_ sorry you once again addressed me so disrespectfully, you are sorry you read the situation wrong; you are sorry you, yet again, made a mistake that cost _you_."

After a very quick glance at McGonagall he turned his attention back on the old man and said, "I told you that if you ever so condescendingly cavalierly addressed me as Neville again, let alone as 'Neville, my boy', I would make a magical oath on my magic and my life that I will flatly refuse to go after You-Know-Who until I have certifiable proof that you, old man, are dead first."

"Mister Longbottom!" gasped McGonagall.

"It's _Lord_ Longbottom, _Madam_ McGonagall," he snapped. "Has _Mister_ Dumbledore's deliberate disrespect of others now infected you, too?"

"M-my apologies, _Lord_ Longbottom," she returned. "I was just so shocked... _well_ , I apologise."

"Is there a problem here, Lord Longbottom?" asked the senior of the two aurors who were stationed in the infirmary that morning. Though Dumbledore, McGonagall and Longbottom were under a privacy bubble at the time, both aurors could still see through it and had seen Longbottom's wand raise, snap-cast curse and remain up to point at the old man. They'd come forward to see what the issue was.

"Nothing that concerns you, aurors," said Dumbledore.

"Something that _very much_ concerns you, aurors," Longbottom corrected. "You see, I told _Mister_ Dumbledore late yesterday afternoon that if he didn't stop addressing me in such a condescending manner, I was going to make a magical oath that I would _not_ go after You-Know-Who until he... _Mister_ Dumbledore, that is... is _certifiably_ already dead first.

"What that means is... seeing as you all believe _I'm_ supposedly the Chosen One to save everyone from You-Know-Who... Dumbledore will have to die first before I go after the man.

"And, just a few moments ago, Dumbledore yet again was condescending towards me by refusing to address me as Lord Longbottom, as you know I _must_ be addressed and as _you_ addressed me.

"So, as you can see, it _very much_ concerns you... doesn't it?"

" _Mister_ Dumbledore," asked the senior auror, having turned to the old man. "Are you truly that big an idiot? Besides doing something so monumentally stupid as casting Fiendfyre in the middle of Diagon Alley and letting it loose, that is."

Dumbledore scowled, huffed and imperiously said, "I have always talked to people as if they are kin. I have done so for almost a century. I am too old to change now."

"Change or be killed," the auror simply stated. "Once it becomes known that Longbottom has made a magical oath he will not go after You-Know-Who until you are dead, the witches and wizards of magical Britain are going to hunt you down and kill you. Do not doubt that.

"You have spent the past three and a half years convincing one and all that Lord Longbottom is the Chosen One; that only he can kill the dark lord. Well, congratulations, they believe you. As such, if it means killing you is what it'll take to get Lord Longbottom to go after the dark lord, then that is what they will do."

Longbottom lowered his wand, but it wasn't because he'd changed his mind. He'd lowered his wand because his arm was becoming too tired, in part, to continue holding it thrust out like he had it.

" _I_ honestly do not believe I am this supposed Chosen One, anyway," he sighed, slumping a little where he stood. "Not after Lord Peverell smacked me about as if he wasn't really trying.

"And let's look at what we know of Lord Peverell, shall we? He's roughly the same age as me. Do we know when his birthday is? Do we know if his parents defied the dark lord three times? No; we know _none_ of that. If he was born as the seventh month dies and his parents defied the dark lord three times... then it's almost certain that it is _he_ who is the Chosen One; not me."

Turning his attention more fully on the old man again, he demanded, "But... have you bothered to check, _Mister_ Dumbledore? Did you even bother to think to _ask_ him before you demanded of us to _attack_ him? No, you haven't, have you; you didn't, did you.

"As Professor Lupin said at the time of the first attack on him, you refuse to provide any proof the man is a dark wizard. You have simply decided he is, because he has access to the Potter vaults in Gringotts. Well, news alert, Mister Dumbledore; so did Harry. _And_ , once upon a time, so did _you_. Does that mean Harry was a dark wizard? Does it mean _you_ are a dark wizard?

"As such, it's my near-certain belief you've pulled the whole 'he is dark' thing out of your arse; just as Professor Lupin implied. Further, I firmly believe you've only labelled him dark because he has what you _covet_ , the Potter fortune.

"When you've been asked _why_ you believe Lord Peverell to be dark, you throw a tantrum like a whiny little school girl and declare that everyone should just do as you say and believe what you tell. You demand _everyone_ inform you of _everything_ , but flatly refuse to share any information out.

"Do you know what that makes you, Dumbledore? As per the Oxford dictionary, the premiere qualifier of almost every single word in the English language, you are defined as a _megalomaniac_. Your words and actions are all neatly described by the description of that word in the Dictionary.

"So, am I going to put up with it any more?" He sighed, "No; I'm _done_! You want Riddle dead? Go find the _real_ Chosen One. I've already figured out it won't be me."

Without even waiting for anyone to say anything, he spun about and walked out.

Everyone, including Dumbledore, were stunned speechless.

As the swinging double doors of the infirmary swung shut, McGonagall whirled on Dumbledore and snarked, "Congratulations... _my boy_... you may have just killed us all. All because you happen to find pleasure in being _blatantly_ rude to people."

Then she too spun about and walked out.

"Is it _now_ we applaud you, Mister Dumbledore?" the auror smarmingly asked, as McGonagall stalked off.

Dumbledore scowled, looked away and said, "Thank you, that will be all."

"Oh, how _won_ -derful!" the auror again snarked. "Thank you, _ever_ so much.

"It's so _nice_ of you to give us permission to leave. Have you forgotten we are here _against_ your wishes? Or that what you want is irrelevant to us?" He then chuckled and removed the privacy wards McGonagall had thrown up. After a gesture to his partner to follow, he then walked back to the main doors."

It wasn't until then that Dumbledore realised no one, including himself, had done anything about the stinging coming from his cheek where Longbottom's mild stinging hex had tagged him. He raised his wand and fixed it himself.

Later that day he again tried to send for Longbottom via messenger Patronus.

A few minutes after sending it, the large brown bear of Longbottom's own Patronus lumbered into the room, stood up and - in Longbottom's voice - said, " _Go fuck yourself!_ " Before then fading out.

The aurors snickered.

Members of the detail weren't supposed to make any sort of remark or imply any sort of mindset when on guard duty such as this. However, the entire guard detail on Dumbledore really didn't care if he, the detainee, was offended or not; not any more. And they knew they'd not be hauled over the coals for it, once word reached Hammer or the Minister, Bones.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Down in Grimmauld Place, except for the morning for Harry and Luna the day was planned a quiet one for the residents.

Harry, from long experience while he fought a year-and-a-half-long war with the Jaffa was feeling more than magically recovered by the time he went to bed. He was just physically tired at the time. 'Was it an eighteen-month-long war?' he wondered. 'Or, was it far longer and I just didn't know?'

That would be something to try and figure out later, _if_ he could be bothered going through his memories to determine how many on-planet days it occupied.

The next morning, feeling refreshed... and, yet again, sexually sated... Harry and Luna joined Sirius and, low and behold, both Tonks and Remus.

"Good morning," he said, which Luna echoed half a second behind.

"Morning, you two," said Sirius.

Harry could see the look of surprise on Tonks's face, but not on Remus's. If anything, Remus was trying to hide a smirk. 'Damned werewolves,' he thought. 'Them and their bloody noses.'

As the two sat at what had become their normal places at the table, Harry at the foot and Luna to his immediate right, Sirius asked, "Plans for today?"

"Back to Harrods," said Luna. "Harry needs to pick up his custom-made business suit and the rest of the stuff that goes with it he left with the suit maker making the suit.

"After that, he needs to go back to the Alley to be seen. There'll be no Dumbledore to interfere this time, though. However, we won't hang around very long. I need to go in and organise a subscription for Harry with the _Daily Prophet_. And a trip to Madam Primpernelle's for Sleek-Ezy, also for Harry."

"Then, back here for lunch," added Harry. "Then I want to try and lay out something of a teaching schedule for you lot for this afternoon."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After their visit back to Harrods to pick up his suit, with Luna using the opportunity to buy more of what would be appropriate muggle to wear if she accompanied Harry to a business function, the pair moved to an out of the way place and had Dobby take their bags back to Grimmauld Place.

Then they headed for the Leaky via muggle means, a cab, and entered through the front door of the pub.

Harry was on the lookout for any of Dumbledore's or Riddle's minions as they entered, but didn't see any.

Moving through the pub, out the back door and on through the magical portal, he asked Luna, "Where to, Love?"

"The offices of the _Daily Prophet_ first," she replied. "Let's get your subscription organised and see what we can do from there."

With a nod he said, "Can you lead the way? I have no idea where it is."

She smiled back and did just that.

As soon as they walked into the nondescript building the woman sitting behind the long counter, the only true furnishing on their side of it, took one look at him, gawked and ran out through a door behind the counter.

"Am I _that_ frightening?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Oh no, Harry," she grinned back. "I'm a senior journalist for their rival, _The Quibbler_. She's gone to alert the staff I'm in the building."

He grinned and was about to say something when the woman was back. She was leading Skeeter.

"Ah, Lord Peverell," she smarmed. "How wonderful to see you."

With a flat looked back he just said, "Uhh-huh." It was so obvious that Harry didn't believe her, the simpering expression on Skeeter's face slipped for only a moment before it was back.

Turning back to the young witch who was in the room and had hurriedly left before returning with Skeeter, Harry said, "I've come to organise a subscription to your... newsparchment. What do I need to fill out and how much does it cost?"

"Oh, I'm sure I can organise that for you up in my office, Lord Peverell," said Skeeter, looking itching to drag him off to there, right that moment.

"Why?" he asked. "You're supposedly a journalist. Subscriptions are not your job."

Without waiting for a response, he turned back to the young witch. "Miss?" he asked. "A subscription form, please."

After a glance at Skeeter the witch turned back, clearly unsure what to do.

Harry frowned at her. "Miss, if you are unable to do something so simple as hand me a subscription form, perhaps I should contact your boss and ask _them_ for one."

With a little start, the witch purposefully ignored Skeeter, quickly reached under her counter and, a bare second later, the form was in front of Harry on the counter surface.

Harry was going to fill it out and pay for it while he was there, but wouldn't do that now while Skeeter was there, too.

Picking it up, he stared at her for a moment expressing slight anger, before he said, "Thank you." Then he turned away to walk out.

"Lord Peverell!" Skeeter blurted.

When Harry turned back she said, "Perhaps... now that you're not recovering from another fight... a further interview. The people would like to know where you've been these past many years―"

"Where I've been is not something I'm willing to share, Miss Skeeter," he firmly stated before turning away to walk out the door again, form shoved into his pocket. Over his shoulder, he called, "All you need to know is that I am called Lord Hardwin Peverell. And I easily kicked the arses of Dumbledore and his _Dis_ order of the Burnt Buzzards; not once, but _twice_."

As he held the door open for Luna, he looked back at the older witch and said, "And, if I can kick all _their_ arses at the same time when they were lying in ambush of me, how big a threat are _you_ to me? How big a threat am I to you... if you _piss_ me off?"

Then the two were gone out in to the Alley and away.

Skeeter stared at the door for a long moment, her 'journalist' instincts urging her to chase after them; then shuddered when the young Lord's words finally sunk in.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As they stepped out into the Alley Luna latched onto Harry's left elbow, leaned in and quietly asked, "Fortescue's?"

It took only a second for Harry to agree. Yes, they had breakfast not that long ago, but there was something about Florean's fare... He could, at least, have a cup of tea and some scones with cream and jam.

They sat at an inside table, but with a view back out into the Alley. And had only just sat when the young witch came by to take their order. That's when Harry remembered seeing her at Hogwarts.

As she walked off, Luna quietly said, "That's Martine Copplestone. She was in my year; Hufflepuff."

That's when Harry had it. It was just his sudden remembering the trim of her robes that finally had him remembering what she looked like a few years ago. She was one of the small percentage who's features significantly changed from when they were young teens to when they became adults.

"Hunh!" he lightly huffed. "She's changed a lot."

"We didn't," she said.

"Physically, no," he shrugged. "Psychologically... I think we were likely the two who've _most_ changed."

"No," she disagreed. "We two were probably the best at hiding our true selves. However, we both saw in the other the truth; at least, most of it. You may not have known I― have my gift."

Harry knew her slight verbal stutter was because they were in a public place and she was utterly unwilling to even whisper it when not somewhere at least a little secure.

"However," she continued, "You knew there was something quite different about me. You already knew that most of the creatures I mentioned were a sham. You knew I was using talking about them as a shield.

"Of course, I knew you even better than you thought anyone else did. You thought you'd kept it a secret from everyone; but, those of us who can see past those shields, could see the real you hidden within."

She shifted in her seat slightly and continued, "Hermione saw much of it; she'd worked out you weren't treated well at your relatives. However, that was because she is a very perceptive young lady.

"The Weasleys, too, saw a lot of it, but also thought the way you grew up was normal for muggles because they knew no better. And there were a few others who could, as I've heard the phrase, read between the lines and see a lot of the real you."

"And I could see the real _you_ pop out every now and then," he said. "There'd be these moments... you'd get real focused and determined on something... then I'd see you squash it down and try to ignore it."

She nodded. "I could... things had to happen the way they happened and I couldn't interfere in a lot of it."

"Yeah," he sighed. "I'd figured that out on Hadrian."

"Once you sorted your memories," she nodded.

"Yeah," he sighed again.

After finishing their teas in Florean's, Luna said, "It's time to go to Madam Primpernelle's to see about getting you some Sleek-Ezy for your hair."

Harry developed a slightly pained look, which had Luna grin back.

"It's important, Love," she said. "It'll be one more thing that we can change about your appearance that will alter a 'signature' look about you at first glance. You managed to get rid of the glasses, which removes the biggest one. The second biggest, the scar, is now so greatly reduced you practically have to be kissing you to see it. The fourth is your general appearance, which is altered by your new fit build and the tan you developed while on Hadrian. That just leaves the signature Potter messy black hair."

He still grimaced a little and said, "If you think it is necessary, then I'm willing to go along with it."

"Buck up, Love," she said. "It might also interest you to remember that Sleek-Ezy was invented by your great-grandfather, Henry."

That had Harry perk up a little.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

That afternoon, Harry had his four 'students' working through more of converting their own combat spell repertoires into something that was coming close to what he needed of them.

However, after half of the 'class time' expired he had them all stop.

"You've all done well, so far," he said. "You're actually managing to learn how to do it much, much faster than I did. However, fair's fair, that's because I was actually _inventing_ what I needed as I went."

He said it in a way that wasn't self-serving, just honest.

"Now I'm going to use the remainder of our time today to teach you that it wasn't just using single-syllable incantations and reducing... if not eradicating... gestures completely," he explained. "There was one other thing I did that I didn't even realise I'd done for weeks. Speeding your body up."

He then launched into how he literally infused his body with intent-based magic. He wanted... needed... to be faster and used intent-based magic to make him so.

"It requires a lot of practice. It requires you to accept you know it works, a determination to do it, your intent to accomplish it and your will to make it happen.

"You all know how to apparate. This is very close to that. Think about it; deliberation is intent, determination is will and destination is result. And, when you do that... just as you apparate... you feel your whole body infuse with your magic.

"That infusing your whole body with magic is the first step of using magic to be physically faster; to be mentally more aware; to think faster.

"So, the first thing I want you all to do is think about apparating... but don't. It's how I figured it out."

"What do you mean?" asked Remus.

Just then Dobby popped in and said, "Master Harry not be being nearly popping when Master Harry speeds up. Master Harry be using wizard version of elf magic."

Surprised, Harry looked to the elf and was about to ask what he meant, when Dobby beat him to it. "Master Harry be using elf time... di-lay-shun... magic."

"Di-lay-shun? Time di-lation... time dilation?" muttered Harry, before he looked to Dobby and asked, "I use time _dilation_ magic? That is, I slow time down around me so, within the... time dilation field... I speed up?"

" _Yes!_ Master Harry!" the excited elf practically clapped back, as it bounced around a little in happiness.

Harry thought about it for a little while before he muttered, "Hunh! That... actually... makes better sense."

Thinking about it further, he turned to the other four and explained, "I was in a battle with a patrol of Jaffa warriors. They had me pinned.

"So, I was thinking about apparating away and preparing myself to do that while I continued to fight them. I had deliberation and determination in my soul as I continued to battle. I had wanted to set things up so that, as soon as I saw I wasn't going to be able to dodge or shield against one of their staff weapons, I could instantly apparate out before it hit me.

"You need to understand two important points here: One, I had already come to think of Hadrian as _my_ planet, my home, and I was _damned_ if I was going to let someone deny it of me; and two, if they started winning battles I knew that they would know that I could be beaten, which would make kicking them off again that much harder.

"So, I never ran when I could win. I gave them as few opportunities to drive me off as I could. I fought until I was in a no-win situation or had fought my way out.

"It was while infusing my body with magic... what I thought of as ready to apparate out... that I noticed things seemed to slow down. Their blaster weapon bolts slowed, the speed they moved slowed, _everything_ slowed; or, at least that's what it looked like. It took me a little while after that to realise it wasn't them slowing down, it was me _speeding up_."

With a snort of self-amusement, he said, "After that... it was no longer a matter of _if_ I was going to win, it had become a matter of how _long_ it was going to take me."

He hadn't noticed a satisfied Dobby had popped away again.

When he saw they understood, Harry said, "To make this easier to learn as you aren't in the life and death situation I was in, we'll start with you just holding your magic ready as if to apparate... _but not apparate_. Magic is a muscle and it needs to be exercised.

"We'll start with that and then move on to accomplishing small tasks, such as juggling a single small ball from one hand to another, while you're concentrating on holding apparation... sorry, time dilation magic.

"Ready to try?"

The four grins back were answer enough.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning Harry was providing individual help to his four 'students' as he'd basically taught them what they needed to learn and that it would come to each of them in different ways and at different speeds.

"So," said Sirius, during a break when it was just him and Luna. "It's really only two things you're doing differently. You've trained yourself to use single syllable incantations for each of the charms and curses; and you're using this new form of elf/wizarding time dilation magic."

"It's more than that," Harry gently chided. "I often use magic in different ways than what people expect."

"An example?" asked his godfather.

"Harry gave a nod and said, "For instance, I use apparation to explore my environment from a position thousands of feet in the air.

"With the exception of what I came to realise were the polar areas of Hadrian, almost the entirety of the rest of the planet was either arid desert or very large lakes that were pretty much land-locked seas.

"Unlike Earth, the surface of Hadrian was about forty percent water and sixty percent land. Earth is thirty percent land made up of large continents and islands and seventy percent water - oceans, seas and rivers. Hadrian was one giant... continent with a few islands in those land-locked seas.

"Because it was so arid I developed a way to explore to find things by apparating straight up about five thousand feet. Then, as I began to fall, I would use my arms as fins to turn myself in the air. I'd slowly turn completely around and have a very good look at everything while I continued to fall, then pick a spot on land and apparate directly there. Then I'd start the whole cycle again.

"You'd be surprised how much land you can cover doing that."

Sirius was looking at him in shocked awe combined with apprehension before he finally blurted, "Yuh- You... actually _did_ that?"

"Well... yes," replied Harry, confused by his godfather's reaction.

"I.. thought you were _joking_!" exclaimed Sirius.

"Nope," he replied. "As I said, you'd be surprised how well it works.

"I wouldn't do it here, though. Too close to an airport and you'd be picked up on muggle radar. Besides, while aircraft fly at distances far higher than that, they still have to take off and land. As such, they can be passing through that airspace at the time, if you're not careful. It'd really _suck_ to suddenly appear in front of a 737 coming in to land at Heathrow, or something."

"That's... _crazy!_ " explained Sirius. "If you find you suddenly can't apparate..."

"You'd plummet to your death," said Harry. "I know."

"Do it with a broom in your hand, though," said Luna. "There's no risk, right?"

"Other than normal splinching as a risk, no," agreed Harry. "Except aircraft, of course."

" _Daammnn!_ " said Sirius. "Just... _please_ don't do that here," he begged.

"I wont," Harry agreed. "Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted are international airports just in the greater London area alone. Toss in Manchester and they're the four most active airports in the United Kingdom. It's because they're so busy I know damned well that trying my trick of apparating a few thousand feet up is fraught with the danger of being picked up on radar and/or colliding with a huge jet aircraft doing in excess of two hundred miles an hour. Not good."

It took a bit of coaxing on Harry's part to get the two back to thinking about infusing their entire bodies with magic with the intent to slow time in their direct immediate environment again, but he got them there - Luna faster than Sirius, of course.

Sometimes, in the quiet of his own mind, it scared him just how much trust and faith she had in him. Yes, it might be because she was a Seer and could see what would come, but it was still a leap of trust - if not faith - for her to so willingly open herself to him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Voldemort was angry and had been 'generous' with the number of Cruciatus curses he'd flung about in his 'throne room' in Malfoy Manor. At least half a dozen of his minions had fallen to the Curse before his rage was suitably vented.

The Peverell Lord had, apparently, spent a couple hours that morning in Diagon Alley doing some shopping for robes and, for some reason, potions at the Primpernelle matron's store. However, with such a golden opportunity to approach the man, not one of his loyal Death Eaters were in place soon enough to approach and request he attend an audience with his rightful Lord, him - Lord Voldemort.

When his anger abated he demanded, "Make sure there is always at least one of the Faithful in the Alley, ready to approach him, at all times from this moment forth!"

"Yes, my Lord," those before him all replied, even if a couple of them stuttered from pain while doing so.

When Voldemort gave an order in general, as he'd done this time, all those present were obligated to respond. There had been those in the past who had failed to do so and not many of them were still alive. And those who still lived had felt the pain of a long held Cruciatus for their trouble.

Voldemort did not tolerate being ignored or the disrespect of not being answered.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Neville Longbottom had just returned to his VIP suite apartment, halfway between the Charms corridor and Ravenclaw tower, after having been accosted by Ron and Ginny Weasley as he came out of Professor Flitwick's classroom. He'd just spent another hour with the little Duelling Master, training.

Both Weasleys demanded to know why he was now acting so cold towards them.

Finally, he'd had enough and snapped at them, "Because you both flat out lied to me and have been continuing to lie to me for, I don't know how many, years."

When they seemed surprised it was the almost dual expressions of slight guilt that passed over their faces that was the final confirmation he needed.

Staring in furious hate at Ron, he said, "You, Ronald Weasley, told me that your taking of Harry's broom and coin pouch within days after he died was because Harry told you you could have them both if anything happened to him. I've now had it confirmed that was a _blatant lie_. He did no such thing.

"That, Ronald Weasley, makes you both a liar and a thief. If you want a friend, go befriend Mundungus Fletcher. You two are peas out of the same pod."

Swivelling his head slightly to stare at Ginevra, he said, "As for you... you have been going around, behind my back, telling one and all we are going to get married as soon as I defeat You-Know-Who. That, too, is a blatant lie; because _I_ will be marrying Hannah Abbott.

"Besides, I've also had it confirmed... by quite a number of people... just what it is you were up to regarding sex while you were a student here. You whored yourself out, Ginevra Weasley. And, from the sheer number of people who have confirmed that for me, together with specific details they could only know about you if they'd each had sex with you, I can do nothing else but accept that what they have told me is the _truth_.

"You are to stop with the slander against me of telling people you and I are going to get married, or I will sic the Longbottom family solicitors and barristers onto you. Their instructions will be to spread the information you have been lying to everyone far and wide; then, if you push back, their instructions will be to spread the information far and wide of evidence of your... behaviour... while at Hogwarts."

Snapping his head around to stare again at Ronald, he said, "As for you, as of this day I will be informing one and all that you are _not_ my so-called 'best mate'. Best mates do not lie and steal from you; as you, while supposedly the best mate of Harry Potter, did that to him.

"I do not and will not truck with thieves, liars and scoundrels; other than having to deal with you as a member of Dumbledore's little Order of the Phoenix, just as I have to tolerate being in Mundungus Fletcher's presence.

"Stay the fuck away from me... the pair of you."

Then, not even waiting for either of them to say a word, he spun about and stormed away.

Now in his apartment he had been pacing back and forth for a little while, wondering what to do next.

However, he already knew what he had to do and also knew he was just delaying the inevitable.

Finally, he gave a huff and called a Longbottom, rather than a Hogwarts, house elf.

"Flippy, please pack my personal effects and take them to Longbottom Hall," he instructed the elf. "Enough is enough; I'm returning home."

As the elf packed he picked up his always-present 'pad' of blank parchment and ever-full quill. He had a note to write.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Stepping out of the floo at Longbottom Manor, Neville was greeted by his grandmother standing behind a marble revetment with her wand drawn.

As soon as he stood up, she barked, "Password!"

"The Seven Virtues," he immediately replied.

"Your pet toad," she said. "What did your Uncle Algie name him?"

"Squirt," he immediately replied. "But I named him Trevor." Then, not even pausing, he demanded, "What is your nickname for _Aberforth_ Dumbledore?"

"Goat felcher," she more calmly replied, stepping out from behind the marble shield. "Neville."

"Gran," he returned.

"Finally had enough, have you?" she asked.

With a huff of combined annoyance and sadness he returned, "You were right, Gran. Dumbledore's a manipulative old wanker; the Weasleys are... _users_ ; the others... they're Dumbledore sycophants."

Augusta nodded back. "I'm glad to see you're waking up to that. I feared I had completely lost you. What brought this on?"

Getting a little frustrated, he replied, "Dumbledore's actions against Lord Peverell; both times he's met the man."

"I thought as much," she nodded.

"He... Lord Peverell, even with Dumbledore working to protect me and over half a dozen other Order members there, gave me a magical _spanking_ , Gran," he explained. "He did it so _easily_... so _effortlessly_. And, if _he_ can do that to me, what hope do I have against You-Know-Who?"

"As I told you, very little," she sniffed. "Yes; you are clearly a powerful wizard, Neville. However, the dark lord has decades of experience on his side and he has the depth and breadth of the dark arts he can draw upon. With Dumbledore's demand that none of his Order use anything but incapacitation magic against their opponents, the old man is firmly on the path of utter failure of his objectives. You _know_ this."

Neville sighed again, walked over to one of the couches in the room and collapsed into it. "I really started to lose faith in the old man when he had us attack Lord Peverell the first time.

"However, when we attacked him the second time... that's when three important things occurred. The first was how easily Peverell spanked me. The second was Dumbledore clearly losing the battle. And the third was Dumbledore casting _Fiendfyre_ , of all things, before apparating out and leaving the _Fyre_ to run rampant. And he did that last just as a way to cover himself while he escaped. He also left the rest of the Order to fend for themselves."

"He's a coward," said Augusta.

When Neville turned a surprised look upon her, she explained, "Until now he's been the most powerful wizard on the battlefield. He's been utterly assured he will be victorious. This time, though, he's come up against someone who can obviously beat him. And, because of that, he has shown his true colours.

"I dare say his casting of Fiendfyre was because he panicked with fear and cast the first thing that came to his mind to cover himself to allow himself to withdraw. That it was dark magic he immediately turned to, so as to effect that withdrawal, shows the so-called Leader of the Light is not so Light, after all."

Sadly he said, "There was so much about both confrontations that do not gel with what Dumbledore supposedly believes, but _does_ if you first accept that Dumbledore is completely wrong."

"Oh?" she asked; though she did not disbelieve her grandson, as she'd always thought contrary to the old man's mantra.

"Lord Peverell used only Light magic when he took us all down that first time. If anything, he only used simple stunners and shield breakers; though I've _never_ seen anyone that fast before. Not even Professor Flitwick is that fast; and Professor Flitwick was the fastest I'd ever seen until then. He had us all, including Dumbledore and Mad-Eye, down within _seconds_... and there were _twelve_ of us.

"He also warned all the people who were standing around and watching that he was about to step off the bottom steps of Gringotts; and that they should seek cover, as he knew Dumbledore would have us attack him as soon as he did.

"He didn't have to do that. He did it because he didn't want to see anyone hurt. That's what a _Light_ wizard would do; not a _Dark_ wizard."

"Exactly," his grandmother firmly replied.

"Then, there was the second time... there were less of us," he continued. "And that time he only cast at me _prank_ hexes. It wasn't hard, in hindsight, to see he was giving me a lesson. And that lesson was, I will have _no_ chance if I ever properly come up against You-Know-Who."

"I know," she said.

"Then, from figuring that out, I'm left with a... belief. And that belief is based on certain factors Dumbledore seems hell-bent on no one finding out."

"Oh?" she asked.

Looking his grandmother in the eye he asked, "Lord Peverell is approximately the same age as I am. What I want to know... and what Dumbledore seems determined no one finds out... is when is the Lord Peverell's birthday? Can his birthday be seen as 'when the seventh month dies'? Did his parents 'thrice defy' the dark lord?"

Surprised, Augusta said, "That's three very good questions. You believe, if the Peverell Lord was born 'as the seventh month dies' and his parents did indeed defy him three times, he's the true Chosen One."

"Yes," he firmly replied. "We know he didn't attend Hogwarts. Therefore, as You-Know-Who attended, _I_ haven't truly learned of 'the power he knows not' from the school. However, as Peverell didn't attend Hogwarts, then it is more likely he _has_ learned the power 'He-Who' hasn't, rather than me.

"The more I think about it... analyse it... the more I'm coming to believe Lord Peverell is the Chosen One. If we can discover his correct date of birth, even if we cannot learn if his parents defied the dark lord three times, then I think that will go a long ways towards confirming that Lord Hardwin Peverell is the real Chosen One."

His grandmother nodded back with pride in her eyes. "Well reasoned," she stated. "And, I think I know how we can learn that."

Curious and not a little hopeful, he asked, "How?"

"I need to talk to my old friend, Amelia," she replied. "As Lord Peverell is a Lord, especially one we now know is also the new Lord Potter, then it behooves her to meet with him to... discuss matters."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After recovering enough from the loss and reattachment of his arm he could be released from the Hogwarts infirmary, Dumbledore was quick to demand his house arrest be widened to allow him, as he put it, to attend to his duties as Headmaster.

After much grumbling on her part, Director Connie Hammer of the DMLE had to allow it. Dumbledore had managed to get the word out that he was unable to protect the students while locked within the infirmary and needed the run of the school to properly protect them. The parents on the Wizengamot and the School Board then put pressure on her to allow it.

However, that same pressure was also showing her she'd not get the numbers to convict the old man for his casting of Fiendfyre in Diagon Alley. So, while she gave every indication she'd still be taking the matter before the Wizengamot, she knew it was pointless. Therefore, the matter would be quietly 'shelved' until after You-Know-Who's final defeat - then Dumbledore would face all those charges in consecutive trials before the Wizengamot until such time the Wizengamot had no choice, _but_ to convict the old bastard.

She was playing a waiting game.

Not knowing that was her tactic, Dumbledore was happy in his ignorance of his own self-importance to worry about it. However, even though he'd managed to have his house arrest widened to include the entirety of the school, he was still restricted to only the grounds of Hogwarts - much to his displeasure. While the parents wanted Dumbledore released from the tight confinement of the infirmary at Hogwarts, they still wanted him forced to stay at the school. After all, he couldn't protect their precious children if he was off gallivanting about the countryside and away from Hogwarts.

Immediately after his release from the infirmary, the old man had gone to his office and tried to summon 'young Neville' to him. However, it took the calling of a Hogwarts house elf to deliver a letter for him for the man to learn he was no longer in the castle.

" _Where is he?_ " he demanded.

"He is gone home, Headmaster Whiskers," the elf replied.

After sending the elf off he was immediately on the floo to Longbottom manor to demand Neville's return.

With his head in the flames and looking into the Longbottom manor welcoming room, he was then forced to wait over a minute and a half before _Augusta_ Longbottom entered the room.

Before she had a chance to say anything, he got in first. "Augusta, I need to speak with your Neville. Please summon him."

"No," she immediately replied.

Surprised by her snapped response, he said, "It is _vitally_ important I speak with him. The security of the wizarding world is at stake."

"Prove it," she snapped back.

Surprised, he was a moment before he stammered, "P-pardon?"

"If the security of the wizarding world is at stake based on whether or not you speak with my grandson, prove it," she replied. "If you won't, this conversation is over."

With a huff, he said, "The nature of what I need to speak with Neville is of such sensitivity I simply cannot speak with anyone else about it, but he."

"In that case, goodbye Albus," she said, raising her wand.

As Dumbledore looked back in shock, she brought her wand swishing down and he suddenly found himself flung from his office floo, as he was forcibly ejected from his office fireplace. She'd force-disconnected the call.

Landing on his butt a good four feet back from the fireplace, he stared at in shock for a moment before his face morphed into one of anger.

Climbing back to his feet and unconsciously dusting himself off, he took the two paces back and tried to reconnect the call. It wouldn't connect.

Raising his wand he was about to use the power of the Elder Wand to bull his way through when one of the aurors, still tailing him everywhere including his office, gave a pronounced cough.

"If you're about to attempt what I _believe_ you're about to attempt, Mister Dumbledore," said the auror. "I'm afraid I will have to stop you."

Holding his wand tightly in his hand as he forcibly squashed down on his anger with Occlumency again, it was a moment before he imperiously said, "My conversation with Madam Longbottom was inexplicably disconnected. I merely wish to ensure nothing untoward has happened to her."

"In that case..." the auror began, pulling out his badge. He tapped on it in a few places and returned it. "There. A team of aurors will contact her directly to ensure she's safe. That's what _we_ do, Mister Dumbledore. That's one of _our_ jobs... not yours."

Frustrated, Dumbledore simply said, "Very well."

Not able to re-contact Longbottom manor via floo call for the moment, he returned to his desk and turned his attention to the 'Peverell problem'.

Pulling a sheet of parchment before himself and ignoring the presence of the auror, he picked up a quill and began to list what he knew of the Peverell man. Admittedly, he knew it would be a short list. However, he saw it only as a start to learning all he could. His intent was to 'prove' Peverell could not be the Chosen One and, with that information and using the argument of elimination, 'prove' that the Longbottom boy was.

The man could not have come out of nowhere; he had to have a history, no matter how well hidden it may be. He directed his attention to finding out the man's basic information; his age, his birthday, the name of his parents, his friends, that sort of thing.

He would be surprised to learn, if he ever bothered to find out, he was by far not the only one wondering those details.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	11. Frustrating Supposed Lords

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven - Frustrating Supposed 'Lords'**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Sirius was in the library and reading through yet another book on combat magics from out of the Black library at Grimmauld when an owl flew in to drop off a letter for Sirius. He was looking for more curses he could deconstruct to a single syllable to add to the quite extensive repertoire he already had.

He scanned it and its load, then freed it of the letter it was carrying with a simple untying charm to the string holding the letter to its ankle.

With the letter free, the owl flew out again. It didn't even wait for the treat Sirius was already reaching for.

With a shrug, Sirius returned his attention to the letter now sitting on the side table next to him.

After another lot of intent-based magic on the letter to see if there was anything harmful, he soon had it open and read. Frowning in a little confusion, he sought out the others currently 'at home' to speak with them about it.

After Harry had read it, he handed it to Luna.

"They're fact-finding," she said. "They want to know who you are. That's why they sent Sirius this letter, asking if he knew who you were."

"They want to know who I am because I spanked the living Hell out of Dumbledore and his minions," Harry qualified. "And they sent it to Sirius because any mail sent by owl to 'Hardwin Peverell' won't find me and thought Sirius might be in contact with me due to the Peverell and Potter fortunes."

Sirius nodded in acknowledgement and said, "You should go. I can send her a letter, informing her I've spoken with you."

"Not everyone receives a personal invitation from the Minister, Harry," Luna quietly stated.

"An _invit_ -ation to an _interrog_ -ation," he smiled at her.

"Yes," she shrugged. "But an important one. And don't go thinking this is a muggle third degree or anything. As you're now a recognised Lord they're going to be very wary about how they approach you with their questions. They're going to be exceedingly polite... but wary."

"Because, as far as they know, I'm an unknown." he said.

"Yes," she replied.

Sirius cut back in and said, "For what it's worth, _I_ think you should go, too."

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I should."

He thought about it for a few moments before he said, "Fine. I'll go. However, I'm not going to turn up via the public floos in the atrium and have to tolerate all that crap getting through bullshit security to visit her."

Looking to Sirius, he said, "Let her know I'm willing to meet with her... on _her_ turf... but I'll need to be granted direct floo access to her office or whatnot."

"Good idea," said Luna.

"You'll need another owl to send her a response," he said. "Can someone organise that― wait. Have Dobby take it to the owl post office in Diagon and send it that way."

"You don't want to use Hedwig for this," said Sirius. "Smart."

After writing his letter and having it gone over by both Harry and Luna, then making the minor corrections they suggested, Sirius had Dobby take it to Diagon for him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Late the next morning and after a long 'briefing' from both Sirius and Luna about how to behave when meeting with the Minister, Harry was finally given the all-clear by both his godfather and girlfriend he could go.

While rolling his eyes in front of them, he took the floo to the Leaky Cauldron and waited for ten seconds shy of his meeting time with Minister Bones. He needed only wait less than a quarter minute. Then he cast a silencing charm over himself and the floo grate before tossing a large pinch of the available 'public' floo powder into the flames and firmly calling, "Minister's Office, Ministry of Magic."

He waited for the connection; then, giving the temporary password he was told, said, "Lord Peverell, visiting." And, after first taking a deep breath, immediately stepped in.

Elbows tucked in he allowed the floo network to carry him the short distance to his destination, waited the half second as he came to a stop and stepped out.

Unlike 'Harry Potter', 'Lord Hardwin Peverell' knew how to use a floo - even if it did take he and Luna stepping back and forth between The Rookery and Grimmauld Place quite a few times before he finally worked out what he'd been doing wrong before.

No one, until then, had bothered to tell him he needed to pause that half second on arrival before stepping out. However, to be fair, it was because there were very few people who had his reflexes that would otherwise step out too soon.

He stepped into the Minister's office to find four wands pointed at him from four widely-spaced places in the room. Two of those were either side of him and one was the Minister's own.

Straightening up from the crouch he was in to step out of the fireplace, he had one eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face. "I must say, Minister... if this is the nature of your hospitality when receiving guests... I would have decided to be _just_ as rude and ignored your invitation."

Unsurprisingly, Minister Amelia Bones only very slightly coloured in her cheeks. However, the tip of her wand never wavered. Instead she firmly, but softly, demanded, "Password, please, Lord Peverell."

"Lady Bones is soon to marry Edward Carmichael," he wryly returned. "At least you said, 'Please'."

As Bones lowered her wand in barely concealed relief, so did the other three.

"I will not apologise," she said. "There've been far too many assassination attempts on my life since that... man... has been back."

She then gestured to a chair before her desk, a nice and comfy one, and said, "Please. Take a seat."

"Oh?" he asked, as he moved to the indicated chair. As he sat he smirked and asked, "That then begs the questions; just how many is 'sufficient' assassination attempts? And how many is not enough?"

As she sat herself, she paused as she blinked back in surprise, gave a slight snort of amusement and finished sitting. "Very clever," she drolly replied.

He grinned and said, "I thought so."

The bare flicker of a grin passed across her face before she'd managed to school it back to one of pleasant demeanour.

As she then sat there, critically examining him, he asked, "Well, Minister? Do I pass?"

A little confused, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"You've been eyeing me off," he replied. "Do I pass whatever visual examination you were making of me? And, will you please tell your attack dogs to stop staring at the back of my head? It's quite rude, you know."

She gave a very slight wince before she softly replied, "Sorry." She gave a slight flick of her fingers and Harry heard the three aurors behind him all move about a little.

Then her posture changed slightly and she said, "You are somewhat of a puzzle, Lord Peverell."

"Oh?"

"I would like to know both where your family... specifically, you... has been hiding for quite a number of generations and why you've suddenly turned up."

He gave a slight snort of amusement and replied, "You would not believe me if I told you. As such, it would be pointless."

"Try me," she almost, though not quite, demanded.

He thought about it for a long moment before he replied, "Very well. Walk outside on a cloudless night. Look up at the brightest star in the sky; it's in the constellation of _Canis Majoris_. It's name is Sirius, but is often called the Dog Star. And it's actually a binary star; caused by two stars with one, Sirius B, orbiting another, Sirius A.

"Also orbiting Sirius A is a planet. For many years, that planet was my home. And, very recently, I returned to Earth with the assistance of the muggle United States military.

"Does that answer your question?"

At first she looked at him in shock, then that shock turned to slight frustration. "You only had to state you did not wish to divulge that information."

He grinned back and said, "I know."

With a shake of her head she then leaned forward in her chair to rest her elbows on her desk blotter. And said, "I wanted to talk to you about the attacks upon you by Albus Dumbledore; both times, after you stepped out of Gringotts, I believe."

He gave a slight shrug and said, "What do you want to know about it? I also remind you, Minister, you are no longer an auror. It's not your place to investigate."

"No," Harry heard from the woman behind him. "It's mine."

Without even turning around Harry said, "Well... person standing behind me, staring at the back of my head and probably with her wand in her hand... perhaps if you were to ask me questions, instead of the Minister, I might be willing to answer you. However, you've been nothing but rude since I've entered the room. So... _nup_."

Minister Bones cocked an eyebrow at Harry as she tried to smother the smirk she was desperately trying not to show.

Harry saw it and openly grinned at her.

In response, she just gave a huff of annoyance and adopted a slightly annoyed mien, but Harry could see she still saw humour in the situation. It was in her eyes, if not on her face.

Finally giving herself the slightest of shakes, Bones finally looked at Harry and asked, "If you don't mind sharing, how is it you came to inherit the Potter fortune?"

"The old fashioned way," he replied. "Trace back through the line of Potters and you come to a Peverell."

Curious she asked, "So, it's true that the Potters were descended from the Peverells?"

"The main branch, yes," he replied. "However, a Hardwin Potter married an Iolanthe Peverell. I'm sure, from that, you can see how it is I'm called Hardwin. The line by which I inherit through primogenitor is by her father, Denzel."

She gave a nod and said, "You clearly don't want to share where you've been. How about other details?"

"Such as?" he asked.

"Date of birth?"

He grinned back and replied. "I'm over the age of consent, if that's what you're implying."

She didn't so much blush as her cheeks pinked a little. "I'm sure you are," she wryly said. "However, we should have your pertinent details for our records."

"Should?" he pressed. "No; you mean, 'want'. Sorry, no."

Frowning slightly she said, "In these times of heightened concern, we prefer―"

As Harry started to snicker a little she shut up. Then frowned at him.

"'Heightened concern'?" he asked, smirking at her. "Wow! Is there something about moving into this office that makes idiots out of politicians?"

Leaning forward a bit, he stared at her and firmly stated, "You're in a _civil war_ , Minister Bones. Call it what it is." Then sat back again. "'Heightened concern', indeed. You are in a civil war brought on by an insurrectionist movement based on bigotry and hate and which is led by a man whose only goal is for him to become supreme ruler of everything, or he destroys everything.

"The one you lot keep calling 'You-Know-Who', etcetera, has already caused deliberate breaches of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy; if not directly, then through the actions of his minions. In some countries, such as the MaCUSA, that's an automatic death sentence _on the spot_. The MaCUSA _do not_ naff about with threats to that specific Statute, because they know what it means if the muggles... or the no-majs, as they call them over there... actually discover the magical world exists.

"Sooner or later, Minister Bones... unless you start treating this as the _war_ it actually is... by first formally _declaring_ it the war it is... you're going to have to inform the ICW you are unable to stop Tom. That means, the ICW are going to have to step in. When that happens... have no fear... you and your government will very likely be sacked on the spot by the combined might of the ICW for sheer naffing incompetence. And, why? Because you've had it in your power since you moved into this office to have the issue dealt with... and you haven't done it. I have little doubt your _'heightened concern'_ would not have existed beyond less than _a week_ once, for example, the MaCUSA Pride turned up on your shores.

"So, I have to ask... as a concerned citizen questioning the head of my elected government... _when_ are you going to release your aurors to fight 'He-Who' and his minions as the insurrectionist movement they are, _or_ admit defeat and call in the ICW?"

At first showing anger caused by Harry laughing at her, as Harry talked Bones finally slumped a little in defeat.

Finally, she said, "I'd never get a Declaration of War past the Wizengamot."

"You don't need to," he returned. "You only need to get such a Declaration past the Wizengamot when you're intending to initiate an International war. You're not doing that. Firstly, you're not the one initiating it; and secondly, this is not yet an International war.

"All you need to do is inform the Wizengamot you've declared... past tense... magical Britain is in a state of civil war. Once you've done that, you declare you're putting the country on a war footing. Part of _that_ will be you releasing your aurors from treating Death Eaters as criminals, even though that's currently exactly what they are, and ordering they be treated as enemy combatants.

"As enemy combatants, they will no longer be recognised as 'pure-bloods'; meaning, when you catch one of them, you can pour Veritaserum down their throats. As enemy combatants, when your aurors go up against them, they're not there to _arrest_ them they're there to _stop_ them. As you'd now be in a state of war, that means the use of lethal force right off the beater's bat. Your aurors will not be arresting those who give up, they'll be taking into custody enemy prisoners who survive their encounter with your aurors.

"Trust me; if the ICW step in because they feel you've for too long shown yourselves to be incompetent in dealing with this little insurrection problem of yours, putting the Statute of Secrecy at even greater risk, they won't be coming in to arrest Death Eaters; they'll be coming in to put them down like the disease-riddled _dogs_ they've shown themselves to be. There'll be no, _'Aurors! You're all under arrest!'_ ; it'll be, _'Deprimo! Bitch!'_ ; right off the bat."

Giving that a moment to sink in he gave a slight shrug and said, "Mind you, if your aurors start doing that, I happen to think that could only be a good thing.

"At the moment, those who can think about the situation realise that if they oppose the Death Eaters, then there's a very good chance they'll die after first being raped and tortured. However, if they _become_ a Death Eater and oppose the aurors, then it is far more likely they'll just be stunned, arrested and thrown in jail. In other words, _not being_ a Death Eater can get you tortured and killed; _being_ a Death Eater means you're more likely to live. When you think about it like that it's kind of an easy choice, isn't it?

"If you want to stop people joining Tom and his merry band of thugs, you need to make it so joining up and becoming a Death Eater will be even more hazardous to your health than not. Do what the Pride are going to do _when_ they breach your borders _if_ you continue down the path you're on; go lethal on first contact. Make becoming a Death Eater _literally_ a suicidal choice.

"Anyway," he sighed, " _You're_ the Minister. It's your _job_ to do what is right, rather than what is easy; not mine."

"I... am not prepared to do that," she lowly replied.

He just shrugged and said, "And I don't care. I happen to think this country _needs_ a clean sweep; not of leadership, but of all its bigotry; its bigoted laws, its bigoted beliefs, its bigoted _practices_.

"I'm firmly of the belief that the Death Eaters are finally going to go too far and either the muggles are going to learn of your existence... and utterly destroy everything; or, the ICW are finally going to have enough and invade you.

"Of course, they will have the full right and backing of the rest of the ICW nations when they do so, because they are all united in one purpose at least... the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy must be protected, no matter the cost. And, if that means destroying magical Britain, _so be it_. You _know_ this. Either way, magical Britain, as a society, will be destroyed.

"Of course, muggle-borns will still be born. And, sooner or later, there'll be enough of them that they can form a new society upon the ashes of _your_ old one. I'm of the fervent hope they'll learn from _your_ mistakes and there'll be no bullshit bigotry... which you currently have and which happens to have been the cause of the last _five_ of your home-grown dark lords, including this one... and the new magical Britain will prosper.

"Either way, your current dark lord will lose. The only thing that should matter to you is, are you... let alone your society... still going to be standing at the end of it."

As she looked back at him in horror, it was a while before she asked, "You're willing to see our society be _destroyed_?"

"Yes," he replied, as if he couldn't understand how they could not know it was obvious. "That is, of course, unless you recognise you need to change first _and actually change_ ; before the ICW or muggles step in. Once either of those two do, it'll be far too late for you.

"Now," he suddenly said. "You asked me here for the purpose of... and don't deny it... finding out if I'm the real supposed Chosen One, rather than Longbottom. That's why you were asking me for my birthday."

The sudden change of topic had Bones's expression momentarily reflect her surprise and guilt that he'd nailed it.

He gave an amused snort and said, "Knowing my birthday will not clear that up for you."

"Pardon?" she asked.

"Knowing my birthday will not make it any clear for you whether or not I'm a possible supposed 'Chosen One' of the prophecy," he replied. "That's because you're making far too many assumptions.

"First, you're assuming that the seventh month is July. And that's because you're assuming that the calendar to determine the seventh month is the modern Gregorian calendar. The prophecy doesn't state it is. There are about thirty different calendars in use throughout the world and it could, for instance, be the Chinese calendar... meaning the seventh month runs from mid July to mid August in our calendar. Even if it _is_ the Gregorian calendar, it could be an older version of it, which would mean the seventh month is September. You do realise, don't you, that sept is Latin for seven?"

"Then you're assuming that the calendar starts on the First of January. What if the seventh month is based on the _financial_ calendar - the First of July to the Thirtieth of June - making the seventh month January? Or, what about based on the school year; which means the seventh month is March? Trelawney was a professor at Hogwarts, wasn't she?

"Then you need to consider whether or not the seventh month dying means the last day of the month under the modern Gregorian calendar. Since the calendar is based on the moon cycles, the dying could represent the phases of the moon, meaning the month dying in July 1980 would be, for that month, the Eleventh; not the Thirty-first."

He then chuckled at Bones's expression and said, "Try this for a scenario that fits the requirements of your prophecy: Back in the late sixties, a young French couple who recently emigrated from France with a young boy child who was born on the Thirtieth of September, have been approached three times by the one who became your current dark lord with the intent to get them to join him. They refuse him each time. After the third time they decide, 'Naff this, let's emigrate back to our home country and away from the fool.' And do so. They certainly don't want their son going to Hogwarts in the current worsening climate.

"Approximately fifteen years later it's early 1980. Their son is now a young auror with the French aurors. At the same time, the ICW are quickly reaching the point - _approaching_ the point - they're going to send in International aurors to deal with your dark lord problem. And... wouldn't you know it?... one of those aurors is the son of that couple who emigrated back to France.

"You now have, back at the time Trelawney gave her prophecy, a young French auror who is both 'approaching' and 'born of those who thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies'. And he fits the prophecy quite nicely.

"You... as has Dumbledore and the dork lard... have leapt to conclusions based on little, but the flimsiest of, evidence.

"Where is your evidence that the Chosen One, as you've all been calling him, was born on the Thirtieth or Thirty-first of July, 1980? Where is your evidence that he's even British? And, further, where is your evidence he's even a _magical_? Have you even bothered to find out? For all you know it could be a muggle with a _gun_ who finally 'offs' him; such as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Service."

As he sat back and smirked at Bones, who now had her head resting by her forehead on her fingertips of both hands with her elbows on her desk, he could hear the nervous movements and quiet mutterings of the three aurors behind him.

He chuckled again and said, "You've all been so _happily_ going along with whatever bullshit Albus Dumbledore spews out of his mouth as if it's the gospel truth that, when someone like me comes along and asks for proof, you're all left floundering. 'But-but-but... Albus _said_ so!'

"Albus Dumbledore has mastered the art of, 'When you cannot bedazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit'. And you idiots have all been falling for it." And laughed.

He was the only one, though.

"Good _gods_ , woman!" he chuckled. "How about you speak with an Unspeakable who is a Master of Divination and ask _them_! _Stop_ falling for Dumbledore's dissembling bullshit and actually _investigate_! You were, after all, once an auror. Put that training to use."

After a few moments, she sighed and sat back, "Yes. Yes, I was."

After another long look at him, she asked, "Any other pearls of wisdom you wish to share?" That she asked it almost plaintively had him smirking back.

"Ask and ye shall receive," he grinned. Her returned grimace of pain made his grin widen.

"Let's look at your actual prophecy, shall we?" he asked.

"I think we _all_ know what it says," she grumbled.

"Yes," he returned. "But do you know what it _means_?"

Puzzled, she asked, "What do you mean?"

" _'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'_ right? Now let's deconstruct it.

" _'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...'_ Nowhere, in there, does it state the one with the power will actually vanquish him; only that he has the power to do so.

"It also states _'born as the seventh month dies'_ ; not _will_ be born... not _has been_ born... just _born_. Stop assuming that means he's about to be, as of the time the prophecy was given. For all anyone knows, the person could have been over fifty years old, for example, at the time.

"Next, _'And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...'_ Firstly, you're assuming that means a physical mark of some kind. At least, that's what you _thought_ when it was believed it was Harry Potter; and that was only because of his quite visible forehead scar. Dumbledore had to go through _quite_ the song and dance routine to have you all believe it meant something else and the Chosen One was Neville Longbottom, didn't he? Even then it could simply be your dark lord indicating someone and saying words along the lines of, 'that one is my equal'. As such, he has marked them as such.

"Then there's the _'power he knows not'_. It doesn't say the dark lord does not understand the power, it states he doesn't _know_ it. In other words, any power that Dumbledore believed it to be... Love, anyone?... it _cannot_ be the power the dark lord knows not. That's because, until a few years ago, anything Dumbledore _thought_ he knew about the prophecy he told Severus Snape. And anything Severus Snape knew went immediately to the dark lord. As such, within hours... days, at the most... the dark lord would know of it.

"Then you also have to consider that your dark lord also attended Hogwarts. He was Head Boy in 1945. As such, anything taught at Hogwarts _cannot_ be this supposed power because the dark lord would already know of it. Therefore, if the Chosen One _is_ Neville Longbottom, then... as long as he remains at Hogwarts and only learns what Hogwarts and its staff can provide him... he's _never_ going to learn a power the _'dark lord knows not'_ , is he? Which means, he _cannot_ be the Chosen One; at least until he gets away from Dumbledore's clutches.

"The next one is the most hilarious of all. _'And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ...'_ That one is a clear nonsense if you also... as you've also seemed to have done... accepted that Neville Longbottom is the Chosen One. You all accept that the one you consider is the dark lord of your prophecy... and there's nothing in the prophecy that states he is... is the current one. You also have all accepted he is alive; just as you all accept Neville Longbottom is alive. Therefore, either Longbottom isn't the chosen one, or Volde-monkey isn't the dark lord. Pick one, because it _cannot_ be both... if it's either of the two in the first place!

"Then the final line, _'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'_ is nothing but a summary of the first line.

"Next, Dumbledore seems to think that the one with 'the power' will then use that supposed power to off your dark lord. There's nothing in the prophecy that states that. That is nothing, but yet _another_ assumption on your part; _and_ which Dumbledore firmly espouses and spruiks. Again and again and again... _where's your naffing evidence?_ "

With a sigh and a massage of her nose bridge, she asked, "So, your birthday?"

"Is irrelevant," he replied. "How about you tell me yours and I'll see how it could be you who is the Chosen One?

"More than thirty different calendars, remember? As for 'thrice defied him', that doesn't just mean _fight_ ; it can also mean _refuse_. And it doesn't mean to your dark lord's face, either; it could simply mean to his _propaganda_. Care to find out if you meet the conditions of being the so-called Chosen One?"

Slumping in defeat, Bones gave a pained sigh before looking back at him.

"The _only_ person who originally began stating the Chosen One was Neville Longbottom is Dumbledore," he continued. "And you folks all accepted it without once... _once_... getting from the old man any proof as to his claims.

"You were all so happy it wouldn't be you... that you could palm it off on someone else... you simply accepted his bullshit as divine fact. _Shame on you_.

"I magically spanked Neville Longbottom's arse the other day to prove to you _all_ that Longbottom cannot possibly be your alleged Chosen One. Now you're running about trying to learn other people's birthdays to see if it could be them, instead.

"I'm not going to share with you mine because, as I said, it's irrelevant. Having already researched it I can tell you there are approximately fifty-seven days out of three hundred and sixty-six it can be. And those dates change depending on which _year_ you're also referring to, because they relate to the cycles of the moon.

When you do what Dumbledore did and take a day earlier - Neville Longbottom was born on the thirtieth while Harry Potter was born on the thirty-first - then the number _doubles_. That's one hundred and fourteen days out of three hundred and sixty six. That's a little under _one third_ of the entire year."

He laughed at her resultant expression. "Now knowing my personal particulars are not yours to know, is there anything else I can help you with?"

She then tried to get other information such as; Was he was seeing anyone? - "Yes, who that is is a personal particular and none of your business" - Where was he staying? - personal particular - Why can't owls find him? - "Consider it, 'Family magics'" - Was he going to take his Seat on the Wizengamot? - "Yes, but I don't know when" - and others. In the end she got very little and nothing of his 'identifiable' particulars other than his name; at least she _thought_ she had that.

After they'd talked a bit more he said, "Well, I must be getting back. I have people who worry about me."

"And, who are you staying with?" asked Bones, as Harry started to rise.

As he reached his full height, he smiled and replied, "With new friends."

The very slight frown he got back meant that was something else she really wanted to know.

"Well, then; would you mind doing something for me?" she asked.

"That depends entirely on what that 'something' is," he replied.

She gave a single nod back and replied, "If I offer you an emergency portkey, would you carry it on your person?"

"Not without a whole heap of assurances from you, I won't," he returned.

Again frowning a little in frustration, she asked, "What _sort_ of assurances?"

"That what portkey you want me to carry is _only_ a portkey, there are no tracking charms or the like on it; that said portkey _cannot_ be activated by anyone else simply by, for example, calling an activation phrase to me; that the portkey is not a timed portkey; that you inform me first where the portkey will take me upon activation; that sort of thing."

As he spoke and listed his conditions out, she nodded along.

"Wise, I think," she then said. "Very well..."

Then she pulled out a small medallion out of a desk drawer and offered it to him.

He didn't reach for it. "Your assurances first, please, Minister Bones."

"You have them," she firmly stated.

He then took the small medallion with his off hand and dropped it into his pocket.

"The activation requires you to tap the medallion with your wand, pushing a little of your magic into it and calling, 'Activate'," she explained. "It will take you to the DMLE portkey point."

"Will I be locked in place, or similar, if I arrive there that way?" he asked.

She frowned a little and said, "No. The medallion is an 'auror' portkey. As such and though you will arrive there, you will not be hindered in any way. You have my word."

"As a daughter of the House of Bones?" he firmly asked.

"Yes; as a daughter of the House of Bones," she just as firmly returned.

He gave a nod and said, "Very well. Thank you."

"Thank you for coming to see me, Lord Peverell," she said.

"And thank you for hosting me, Minister Bones," he returned.

As he headed for the fireplace, one of the aurors piped up.

"I need you down in the DMLE office, Mister Peverell," said the elder witch Auror. She'd remained quiet the whole time he was there until now. "I need a statement from you regarding the two attacks upon you by Albus Dumbledore."

Turning to look at her, he smiled and said, "Liar. Firstly, you do not _need_ me down in the DMLE office; you _want_ me down in the DMLE offices. Secondly, you address me as _Lord_ Peverell, not _Mister_ Peverell.

"You, whoever you are since you didn't identify yourself, are quite rude. As such, do not lead yourself to believe it's done you any favours."

"I'm Director Hammer," she frowned. "Head of the DMLE."

"Bully for you," he returned. "Doesn't make you any less rude, though."

That frown deepened. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to accompany me down to the DMLE―"

"Afraid, are you?" he smirked. "Why, exactly, are you afraid to ask me that? Aren't you supposed to be the Director of the DMLE? Not a good look for the Director of the DMLE to be afraid to ask a question, _is_ it?"

Now getting more visibly upset she snapped, "You're coming down to the DMLE with me to answer questions _I_ have."

"Am I under arrest?" he shot back.

Clearly thrown by the request, she was a moment before she said, "No, of course not."

"Of course not?" he immediately asked. "As far as I'm aware of the law in this country, _unless_ I'm under arrest you have no right to make such a statement to me.

"So, you are quite wrong about me accompanying you down to the DMLE to answer any questions you have for me; _unless_ you are attempting to circumvent my rights as both a Lord of a Noble House, let alone two, and have decided to flick a big 'fuck you' to the laws of this supposedly just society."

Then ignoring her, Harry turned his attention to Bones. "Minister; your _employee_ , here, is acting outside her authority as Director of the DMLE... not _Head_... and is trying to illegally force me to go with her to the DMLE. That would be attempted kidnapping of the Lord of a Noble House.

"It is behaviour, such as this, that has me of the mindset I'm quite willing to sit back and watch you all self-implode while waiting for the ICW or the muggles to finally have enough with the whole naffing lot of you and step in.

" _Or_... are you going to finally do your naffing job and do what is right, rather than what is easy?

"Deal with her, would you? Or prove... me... right."

With a pained expression, as Hammer began to splutter in indignation, Bones finally snapped, " _Connie!_ "

When Hammer turned to her she continued, "Unless you have something on him to arrest him with, he's free to go. You _know_ this!"

Spluttering in shock Bones had denied her, Hammer was a moment before she said, "But... _Minister!_... He―"

"Is free to go," Bones firmly cut in.

"Thank you, Minister Bones," said Harry. "It seems Director Hammer has forgotten she has a set of laws to obey. That is, of course, unless you've _already_ declared you're in a state of civil war and enacted war legislation?"

She only scowled back.

"In that case, I'll be going," he said. "Maybe there's hope for the current British wizarding society, after all. Time will tell, I guess."

Reaching into her floo pot he withdrew a pinch of floo powder and turned back to Hammer. "Oh, yes. You _know_ I am Lord Peverell. The next time you fail to address me with suitable respect for my Lordships, you'll find out _exactly_ how it is I magically kicked Dumbledore's arse."

With only her surprised and shocked look back at him he spun back and tossed the floo powder into the grate of the fireplace. "Diagon Alley!" he called; then stepped through.

Once he was gone, Hammer whirled on Bones and was about to say something when Bones got in first. "Connie," she quietly said. "The next time you are rude to a guest of mine... especially one I'm working hard to curry favour with... you'll be _fired_ before you can be rude to them a _second_ time. I'll even fire you while the guest is here, just so they see me do it. Am I clear?"

As Hammer gaped back, Bones added, "He was also correct in that you had no right to demand he accompany you to the DMLE. You definitely, as he said, overstepped the bounds of your authority. Overstep the bounds of your authority again and you won't just be fired, you'll also be under arrest and on your way to one of your own holding cells. Am I clear on that point, too?"

"Y-yes, Minister," Hammer finally responded.

"Is that 'Yes, Minister' on _both_ points, _Director Hammer_?"

"Yes, Minister," Hammer firmly replied.

"It is often better to gain compliance through _honeyed_ words and actions, rather than vinegared. You should have been polite and respectfully _asked_ the man for his statement against Dumbledore; rather than trying to demand it off him, which you had no legal right to do. Do you understand?"

A bit more quietly and apparently not a little ashamed, Hammer replied, "Yes, Minister."

"Good. You may go," said Bones, chin-pointing towards the door.

Hammer was quick to leave with her own personal auror escort. She knew Bones wasn't one to rant and rave when she was upset, unlike her predecessor. Instead, she became cold and quiet. That was what she was right now.

Besides, she had surreptitiously cast listening and tracking charms to monitor.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As Harry stepped out of the floo in the Leaky Cauldron, before he did anything else he scanned himself for listening charms and the like.

Shrugging his cloak off and checking it, he found two tracking charms and two listening charms up near the collar at the back

Quietly, he firmly stated, "Placing listening or tracking charms on a Lord of a Noble House is grounds for having you _both_ before the Wizengamot for your effrontery alone. Do it again and that is what _will_ occur to the both of you; aurors or not." Then he immediately banished all four.

Halfway between the Minister's office and her own, Hammer stopped and scowled. She didn't see one of her aurors, the male of the two, also scowl.

Turning around, she demanded, "Which one of you two also cast listening and monitoring charms on Peverell?"

The male auror, replied, "I did, Ma'am."

With a huff she said, "Points for being proactive. But, next time, gain my permission from me first."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied.

At the Leaky and after re-donning his cloak, Harry then recast his silencing ward around himself and the floo, tossed in a large pinch of floo powder, barked out his destination and follow-up password and was away.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After giving it a couple of days, Dumbledore again tried to contact Longbottom at his family home.

This time he managed to get the call to connect, but again had to wait on a house elf to inform his 'protégé' he was on the floo for him.

As he waited, he went over in his mind what he needed to say to get the boy... young _man_... to return to Hogwarts.

However, the elf did not collect the young Longbottom Lord. Again it was his grandmother, the Dowager Longbottom, who walked into the room.

"Mister Dumbledore," she said. "To what do I owe what is not a pleasure?"

A little frustrated behind his Occlumency, Dumbledore said, "I need to speak with young Ne- Lord Longbottom, most urgently."

"What about, Al- Mister Dumbledore?" she demanded, throwing his own 'slip' back at him. "Unless you provide an honest and straightforward answer to that question, I am under instructions from my Lord not to request him to come speak with you."

"He needs further training in facing his destiny," Dumbledore huffed. "His... reluctance to face it will be his downfall. And only _I_ can properly guide him towards a successful conclusion of it."

"According to him, you've done very little of any of that," she smirked. "Instead, you've been palming him off on others, while you sat back and did nothing but serve him platitudes and condescending cordiality, telling him to work harder.

"As such, based on your own actions to date, he only needs to contact others who can provide him with that training you... clearly... will not yourself provide. He then merely needs to hear from you approximately once every few days, where you'll tell him to work harder, and nothing will have changed other than where he lives.

"Is that not true, Mister Dumbledore?"

With a slight scowl, Dumbledore said, "Perhaps if I was to step through and speak―"

"That's _not_ going to happen," she snapped over the top of him, cutting him off. "The wards are specifically set to instantly and forcefully eject you from the grounds if you attempt to enter, even if you use your phoenix."

He'd also temporarily forgotten he wasn't allowed to leave the school grounds.

"If you wish to speak with my Lord you will continue to provide satisfactory answers to my inquiries before I then inform him of your responses," she continued. "Even then, it is entirely up to him whether or not he speaks with you.

"Now, my Lord wishes to know what efforts you have made towards discovering whether or not Lord Hardwin Peverell is the true Chosen One. What have you so far discovered?"

" _That_ is sensitive information I am _not_ willing―"

Before he even had a chance to finish explaining, again Augusta's wand flashed up and down and again Dumbledore found himself forcefully ejected from his own fireplace.

"Merlin, _damn_ it!" he furiously muttered, climbing back to his feet.

When he turned to look at the two aurors in the office with him, both were lightly smirking at him; infuriating him even further. He was further annoyed at the reminder he could do nothing about getting rid of the two and their compatriots who followed him everywhere in the school except the toilet and his private apartment.

Even then he had to tolerate them affixing him with a tracker _and wasn't allowed to remove it_. The first time he tried was also the last time. Within moments of his removing it, both on-duty aurors burst into his room with wands drawn.

After being told off for it, they immediately affixed another to him and told him if he or another removed it they'd immediately drag him off to a cell at the DMLE.

"And don't go thinking you can just transfer it to something or someone else. As soon as you fiddle with it, we'll know," he was firmly told.

That was a point concerning the DMLE-level tracking charm he had forgotten about. And he knew the auror had told him the truth... as far as he was aware.

The DMLE had been provided the charm by the Unspeakables on their request. They needed a tracking charm that could not be removed or transferred without the caster immediately noticing it and the Unspeakables had come through for them.

What frustrated Dumbledore the most was that the Unspeakables were unwilling to share with him the secret of how to remove it without the caster knowing. He knew they had to know, as they both designed the charm and would have left that loophole in for themselves. He was very disappointed with them for not sharing that information with him. They'd told him there was no such loophole, but he knew they were just attempting to mislead him.

If he'd known the truth it would have surprised him to discover they actually didn't leave such a loophole, after all.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Later that day and at the Ministry, Augusta Longbottom was now sitting with the Minister, Bones, in the discussion armchairs at the front of her office. These were two armchairs sitting 'kitty corner', ninety degrees, to one another with a small coffee table between them. Each of them held a tea cup and a saucer in their hands as they talked.

"So," said Longbottom, "We've _all_ been fools in automatically accepting that 'the seventh month dies' is the last few days of July; _or_ that it even refers to 1980."

"Yup," said Bones. "I ran it past Saul and his boys and girls down in the DoM and they concur. Actually, Saul said, 'We'll, it's about bloody time you folks started to open your minds to other possibilities. We've known that, right from the start.'"

"Then, why didn't they _say_ anything?" asked Longbottom.

"They did," Bones returned. "They even sent an Unspeakable to visit Dumbledore and told him directly. He basically threw them out of his office and said he knew, _for a fact_ , it would be either Mister Potter or your grandson even before the two boys were born.

Then, as he was still Chief Warlock at the time, he ordered Saul to not come forward with that information to anyone else under his imprimatur authority as Chief Warlock, as he considered it a security of the realm issue."

Longbottom scoffed and said, "He _really_ abused that authority a lot, didn't he?"

Bones nodded and said, "He did."

"Bastard."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

"Bastard," said Neville Longbottom.

He and his grandmother were sitting at his Head of House desk in the office at Longbottom Manor; he, now sitting in the office chair, while she sat opposite. His grandmother had just relayed to him what she and the Minister had discussed.

"That was my thought, too," she said. "Both of us had also run through the mental exercise to see if the prophecy could also apply to either of us _if_ we were male. It can, if you stretch things a bit.

"And, if we can logically deduce either of _us_ could be the Chosen One if not for our gender, then it is not a difficult exercise to extrapolate that to recognise there would be a great many people - wizards, squibs, muggles - to whom it could also apply.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

A week later and at the Black Townhouse, Harry had barely left the house for the past week. His focus was on getting his girlfriend (Luna), godfather (Sirius), honorary uncle (Remus) and his honorary uncle's girlfriend (Tonks) up to some level of snuff with his way of performing combat magics.

And the four had made significant leaps and bounds in accomplishing what they needed.

When he was honest with himself about it, Harry realised they were learning it so fast because of a number of factors. Firstly, they were in a war and getting fast at casting and dodging could mean the difference between life and death 'tomorrow'. Secondly, they had trust in him not to lead them astray; or, at least to not 'bullshit' them. Thirdly, with the exception of Tonks - who still had to go to work as an auror - they had nothing else to do with their time, but learn and train. And fourthly, Harry was actually a damned fine teacher.

The other matter was Harry and Luna's relationship.

Harry had sat her down in their room and asked the young woman outright, "How long have you known you were the one for me?"

"Off and on since just before we headed to the Ministry that night," she replied. "It actually became clear to me I _could_ be your future spouse just after the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"I tried to See what I could do to resolve those visions over summer and into fourth year... _my_ fourth year and _your_ fifth. That's the main reason I joined the DA; one of the first to join, too."

"When were you sure?" he asked.

"That night in the Ministry, as you were knocked back through the _Astra Porta_. It was you going through the _Astra Porta_ which firmed it all up. Before that, my visions mainly centred on you eventually marrying Ginny."

Harry took only a moment to consider that before he gave a shudder of distaste. "No way."

"Yes, way," she returned. "Potions."

Horrified, he asked, "She was going to use _potions_ on me?"

Nodding, she replied, "Her mother would have driven her to employing them. However, after a couple of years you would have discovered what she'd done and was doing and handed her over to the DMLE to be prosecuted.

"From that, she and her mother would both have been tossed through the _Astra Porta_ after first being convicted of Line Theft. Fred would have been killed before then in battle with the Death Eaters, so that left only Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Percy, George and Ron still alive.

"Ron would have married Hermione. However, he'd have killed her in a drunken rage only a few years later when she received a promotion while working at the Ministry. It would have been the same day he was also kicked out of the Auror Academy in his final year for stealing from his fellow cadets. That she was receiving a promotion while he was being fired was all too much for him.

"You would have then hunted him down and, when he resisted arrest and tried to curse you, you'd have killed him. It would have led you to cutting all ties with the remaining Weasleys, right there.

"At that point I would have stepped in and we'd have married within the year."

"So, we were going to marry, anyway?" he asked.

"If all had gone as it was heading... yes," she replied. "However, I'd have never let things get that far that, for a start, the Battle of Hogwarts would have occurred as it would otherwise have occurred. That meant Fred Weasley, along with a great many others, would at least have lived. Then I'd've made sure Hermione never married Ron."

Suddenly realising something, Harry said, "You advised Sirius to get Hermione out of the country, didn't you!"

"Yes," she replied. "It was the only way to save her from Molly Weasley's potions and Albus Dumbledore's manipulations. It was the only way I could See, at the time, to save her life."

"Thank you!" he gratefully returned.

She just nodded back and replied, "You're welcome. However, I only had that option because you went through the _Astra Porta_. If you hadn't, she'd have never willingly left; even with Sirius arranging with her parents for her to go."

"Because I would have still been here," he said, understanding her point.

"Yes," she replied. "And, she'd have come back, even if she was forced to go. Then she'd have still succumbed to the potions and..."

He continued, "And, she'd have still been murdered by Ron Weasley?"

"Yes."

Harry was a long moment, thinking things over, before he said, "You know... I think I could kill him _just_ for that. He might not have killed her now... he might not _ever_ kill her... but he _still_ represents a threat to her."

Then he looked to her and asked, " _Does_ he still represent a threat to her?"

"Yes," she replied. "However, it is a very tiny one. A lot of things would have to happen... I would have to allow and steer them to happen... for Ron to be a threat to Hermione ever again. You no longer need to worry about Ron harming Hermione, even through accident."

He gave a nod back. "And, you? Do you See yourself happy... _safe_... into the future?"

"Yes, I do," she smiled; "Now we're together."

He smiled back and moved in for a cuddle... which turned into more in short order.

A little while later, breathing just a little heavily, she said, "You know... for someone who's lived a celibate life, especially for the past three-plus years, you sure are a _randy bugger_."

He chuckled and replied, "I think it might be because I've got a lot of catching up to do."

She gave a huff of amusement and quietly replied, "Liar. You're just a randy bugger."

He laughed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Unknown to the five in the Black Townhouse, elsewhere in magical Britain things were moving from a constant state of simmering tension to boiling.

The Dark Lord, Riddle/Voldemort, was getting quite frustrated with his minio― Death Eaters. After a week of not hearing anything from any of them about the whereabouts of the Peverell Lord, he summoned his Inner Circle to a meeting.

" _Why_ has no one found him?" he angrily demanded. "It _cannot_ be that difficult for any of you to track down where he is and give him my invitation!"

Malfoy, his 'executive officer', knew it was his job to reply. "Since his trip to visit the Bones traitor, My Lord, he has gone to ground. None of our spies have seen him. Nor do our spies within the Ministry claim he has again visited Bones."

Voldemort now knew 'Peverell' had visited Bones. And that he'd done so via direct floo to her office, leaving the same way less than an hour later. However, they did not learn of that until hours later; when the 'faithful' auror, who'd overheard from one of those who'd also attended, reported it. Since then, they'd fixed things by kidnapping certain senior aurors so they'd know much faster.

"Find him!" Riddle demanded. "Whatever it takes, I want him _willingly_ before me."

Malfoy looked to one of his remaining friends, Goyle Senior, and gave the man a look of intense worry. Neither said a word.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After a further week of having to put up with the auror presence, Dumbledore finally managed to get enough support together within the Wizengamot through judicious use of the floo system to get the aurors removed from Hogwarts.

As soon as he did and close to the same time Riddle held his meeting, the so-called Light Lord, Dumbledore, summoned his most faithful supporters to a meeting. He was getting quite frustrated with his minio― Order after a week of not hearing anything from any of them, even with the constant auror presence until that day, about the whereabouts of the Peverell Lord.

" _Why_ has no one found him?" he angrily demanded. "It _cannot_ be that difficult for any of you to track down where he is and let us know so we can capture him!"

Tonks, who he believed to now be his 'executive officer' after Moody resigned, replied, "Since his trip to visit Minister Bones, he's gone into hiding again. No one's seen hide, nor hair, of him since."

Dumbledore now knew 'Peverell' had visited Bones. And that he'd done so via direct floo to her office, leaving the same way less than an hour later. However, they did not learn of that until hours later; when the person in the Magic Detection Grid office, who'd overheard from one of those who'd also attended, reported it.

"Find him!" Dumbledore demanded. "Whatever it takes, I want him captured and brought before me!"

Tonks glanced to Remus and rolled her eyes. Neither said a word.

What had Dumbledore in such a royal snit was that he'd been, yet again, rebuffed by the Longbottom Matriarch in trying to speak with 'young Neville'. Oh, he knew he could beat the woman one-on-one in a duel; but, not while she was in the Longbottom manor. After all, the magics of the manor _aided_ her. How _else_ could the woman have so handily bested the likes of the LeStranges and Crouch Junior at the same time.

Now, if he could only get her... or, better yet... young Neville out of the Longbottom manor for a confrontation, he'd soon have them dancing to his secret jig.

He had no idea how 'young Neville' was able to rebel, considering the loyalty potion he was ensuring was in the boy's food. However, that was because he did not know Longbottom had an inkling of an idea someone would try to potion him - Ginny Weasley, he'd thought - so had, for the past six months, been only eating meals and imbibing drink prepared and brought to him by a Longbottom elf.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	12. Visiting Progenitors

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve - Visiting Progenitors**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After being cooped up in the Black Townhouse for more than a week, Harry decided it was time for him to take Luna out on a date.

While teaching the other four the 'new' way of using magic took up a fair bit of time, he told them he'd basically taught them everything they needed to know and that it was now up to them all, individually, to improve using it themselves through constant practice. He did remain on hand, though, to offer the occasional suggestion when they seemed to hit a roadblock or two.

Since then he'd hit the books in the Black library reading everything he could he thought might be useful. And it wasn't just combat spells.

After teaching Harry how to 'goblin' salute and recognise a goblin saluting him, Sirius also learned Harry had no idea how to act as a proper wizarding Lord. So, Harry had to hit the books about that, too.

"It would take years to get a full wand-grip on everything you _should_ know to be a Lord," explained Sirius. "So, we're going to first focus on everything you _need_ to know, especially what you need to know _right now_."

That led to Harry practically spending a great deal of his day and evening studying books and, whenever he came across something he needed clarifications for, asking Sirius. Even Luna both learned a lot she needed to learn as being the future Lady of a House while also helping Harry learn what _he_ needed to learn.

However, some of the things she handed him to read seemed a little odd, but he knew it was because she'd Seen something and knew he'd need that information before he'd otherwise learn it.

When he approached Sirius about somewhere he could take Luna for a date, his godfather grinned and immediately replied, "The Occluded Moon, if you're looking for a restaurant-type evening date. Otherwise, for daytime, I'd say just a picnic in the muggle world."

When he approached Luna, she beamed a wide smile back before her expression settled and she said, "First, I'd like to take you to visit both your parents' and my mother's graves. After that, we'll see."

Surprised, he was a moment and about to say something before she added, "I know you've never visited your parent's graves before, Love. I think, you taking me to visit them so you can introduce me to them, plus me taking you to visit my mother's with the same intent, should be a good start to the day.

"After that, we can find a place to have a picnic and call Dobby to bring us a picnic basket and blanket.

It took him only a moment to see the wisdom of what she suggested and reply, " _That_ is a wonderful idea, Luna. How about we go tomorrow?"

She happily smiled back and replied, "It's a date."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

"So, decided on a place for your date, yet?" asked Sirius.

"Well," said Harry. "First, tomorrow morning I'm taking Luna to visit my parents' graves in Godric's Hollow. Then she's taking me to visit her mother's grave in... well, I don't even know where it is. Then we're going to find a spot... Luna assures me she knows of one on her property... where we're going to have a picnic.

"Once there, we'll call Dobby to bring us a picnic basket and blanket. I don't know how long we're going to be, but we'll be back well before dinner."

"That sounds..." began Sirius. "Actually, have you _ever_ been to your parents' graves?"

"No," he sighed. "The Dursleys were never interested and Dumbledore kept such a tight leash on me I knew even asking to go see them would be refused."

Sirius sadly nodded and said, "I'd offer to come along, but I think this is something the two of you should do together without me there. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes, of course," Harry replied in a voice that showed his surprise he thought his godfather thought he'd be upset with it.

"Good," said Sirius. "I really should visit them again, but it was too dangerous for quite some time. I did only a couple of weeks before you turned up."

Harry thought about that before what his godfather was telling him dawned on him. "You visited them on Hallowe'en, didn't you."

It wasn't a question.

Sirius sighed and replied, "The day after, actually; All Hallows' Day."

Harry softly smiled back and said, "It's okay. And, thank you for visiting them."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning, after eating breakfast and trying to read a book while he waited for the time he and Luna planned to head out, Harry finally set it aside with a sigh of combined frustration and disappointment in himself.

From her own book, Luna looked up and smiled. "Nervous?"

Harry was a few moments before he nodded. "I'm taking a girl to meet my parents, before then taking said girl to go meet her mother."

With a knowing smile she said, "Actually, as they are spirits, all three of our deceased parents know about us. This is more for us than for them."

A little shocked, Harry asked, "Y-you mean they've seen us..." and made a gesture that he thought indicated engaging in sexual intercourse.

She laughed and said, "You can ask it, Harry. You want to know if they have seen us having sex?"

When he sheepishly nodded she, still smiling, said, "I do not believe so, no. I believe they have some awareness of what is happening back here on the mortal plane, but it's not like they're standing there, watching us.

"That's why we go to their graves. It's the place where their current... existence... can more closely touch our own. There, I believe, they will be more aware of us and that we are trying to communicate with them."

He nodded, somewhat relieved his parents, especially his mother and... far more importantly... _her_ mother, had not watched them having sex. If his _father_ had watched them having sex, though... they'd be having _words_.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Finally it was time to go, though Luna had been adamant that Harry dress for combat for the day.

"Why?" he asked.

"Until the current unpleasantness is dealt with, you need to be ready to defend yourself," she explained. "As you're with me, you should also be defending me if I get into trouble."

He frowned back a little and said, "Luna; I don't know if you know it or not, but you're now a great deal faster and far more capable than you were a couple weeks ago. And, a couple weeks ago, I didn't consider you a slouch with a wand.

"I doubt you'd have any problems dealing with another attacker unless it was Riddle himself or someone getting in a cheap shot from behind. I think even Bellatrix LeStrange, when she lived, would be unable to stand up to you now.

"As for multiple attackers... do we need to take you back down to the duelling room and watch you tear apart the four training mannequins again?"

She smiled and said, "It's nice of you to say so, Love. However, you're still supposed to stand ready to defend me against all threats."

He gave a snort of amusement and said, "Fair enough." And went and got dressed.

When she joined him soon after he entered their room, she smiled as she saw him about to don his muggle combat boots. "Try the dragon-hide boots on, Love. You haven't worn them yet."

Without a word, but with a slight shrug, he put on the Welsh Green boots that went so well with his dark green robes he'd already donned.

Once he stood and started to move about in them, he realised just how comfortable they were.

"Very nice," Luna sultrily said.

He turned to her with a grin and cheekily said, "And I bet the clothes look nice, too."

She giggled. "You look like the proper lord, Love," she grinned. "I heartily approve."

As he affixed his wand holster to his forearm and, as usual, over the upper part of the _kara kesh_ and gave himself a last check over in the dresser's mirror in the corner, which didn't comment as Luna now refused to have ones that talked back to her in the room, she said, "Carry that Zat-gun thing, too."

Harry didn't even ask why. He walked over to his bed side table, slid the bottom draw open and pulled the Zat'nik'tel out. Then holstered it on his left hip in the snap draw holster he fashioned for it, just under his robes. He treated the Zat' as a right-handed weapon he could draw and hold, when needed, in the left.

Before he even had a chance to ask, she said, "Just in case."

Luna had dressed before Harry headed up to change and was dressed in a similar style witches upmarket casual robe that, with the flick of a button at the collar, released a magical 'zip' down the middle of the front to drop open into a rudimentary witch's unarmoured combat robe. Underneath she wore slacks and a blouse that couldn't be seen until the front 'zip' was released.

The first time he saw it, Harry commented he'd seen nothing like it before.

"It's a new product line brought out by Malkin's a couple years ago. It was a design concept she first made for combat troops everyone expected the Ministry to create once it was apparent Riddle truly was back. However, she couldn't get Director Scrimgeour to accept the concept even for his aurors. So, she decided to market the idea for civilian wear. Hammer wouldn't accept it either, once _she_ became Director.

"It's proven quite popular with those witches and wizards who are not so prone to running away and hiding if Death Eaters show up."

Looking it over more carefully, he said, "I guess it would." Looking up at her face, he asked, "How come you didn't recommend something like this for me when _we_ were in Malkin's?"

"Because the fully closed front style doesn't suit you, Love," she replied. "You move like a predator all the time when you're out and about, so it's pointless for you to hide it. Besides, the added cost of the feature would be wasted on you because, as soon as there was a risk, you'd open it so you were ready if need be. And that would be almost every time we stepped out into public."

He thought about that for a few moments before he shrugged and said, "Yeah, I would."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

To get to Godric's Hollow wasn't going to be the drama Harry thought it would be. Sirius explained how there was a pub in the Hollow that had a back-room floo connection.

"The floo address is the name of the pub, The Griffon's Claw," he instructed. "There's no password, as it's a popular haunt."

"No problems with Tommy's boys and girls?" asked Harry.

"None so far," replied Sirius. "They've attacked residences in the town, but never a business unless there's a residence above it. And then only at night."

Harry nodded, sighed and said, "Well... wish us luck."

Sirius just smirked and said, "Luck. However, I cannot see Luna being rejected by either of your parents if they were of a mind to let you know one way or another."

Harry gave a nod and, after Luna gave Sirius a kiss to his cheek, they were off.

As promised, they stepped out of the floo in a back-room of the pub. And they, after first checking out the street through the windows, quickly made their way outside.

Luna immediately took his left elbow and indicated the right direction. "This way," she quietly said.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Obviously having been there before, Luna led Harry directly to both the cemetery and then to the graves.

Harry stopped about five foot shy of the foot of them and looked the dual grave over. According to the dual-cut headstone, his father was on his left and his mother on his right.

However, he found the epitaph quite wrong.

 _The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death_

"Why is that their epitaph?" he asked. He didn't even realise he'd asked it out loud until Luna, who was currently kneeling next to his mother's grave and was busy using her wand to clear away weeds and the like from around them, replied.

"Dumbledore chose it," she replied, not even pausing. "However, that's not what they wanted."

Quietly and frowning, he asked, "Do you know what they did?"

"The Potter family motto; Per Quiescis Mobilitatis Dignitatem - Nobility through Quiet Dignity," she replied, still working. "Together with the Evans family motto; Semper Fortis - Always Steadfast."

With something in his mind he drew his wand, aiming it at the headstone. Then he pictured what he wanted, gathered his energy and will and, with intent, cast.

While the details of his parents remained on the stone, the epitaph was vanished and replaced. In its place were two lines:

 _In_ _ _noble_ and ___quiet_ dignity, we remain steadfast._  
 _Per Quiescis Mobilitatis Dignitatem - Semper Fortis_

Harry lowered his wand and looked at his handiwork. After a few moments he gave it a nod and said, "Better."

Luna paused in her work, looked at it, gave it a moment and firmly said, " _Much_ better." Then she headed around the back of the headstone and approached the twin graves from next to his father's grave.

Again, Harry raised his wand and pointed at the headstone. "I, Hardwin James Potter, rightful Head of the House of Potter, call on Magic most Just, to provide me the power to ensure that no magics cast upon this headstone will be able to change the details on this headstone." Then he again gathered his firm intent and will... and cast.

A bolt of pure white magic flew from the tip of his wand and hit the centre of the stone. It glowed gold for a few moments before the glow faded away.

Lowering his wand again, he stated, "If Dumbledore sees that and tries to change it, I hope I've given it enough power he cannot accomplish it; nor will anyone else be able to."

Luna sat back on her haunches for a bit from where she was kneeling next to James's grave and stared off into the distance for a few moments. Then her face slowly adopted a wide smile before she looked back at him. She quietly said, "It worked."

Pleased, Harry finally came forward and knelt next to Luna, over his father's grave.

He wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and said, "Mum?.. Dad?.. I've heard you've already met her, but I thought it was the right thing to do to bring my Luna here to let you know... Well... she's consented to be my girlfriend."

With a smile, Luna twisted slightly and kissed him on the nearest cheek.

"The thing is, Mum and Dad, once I've gotten Riddle out of the way... Well... I intend to ask her to marry me. So, this lovely young lady kneeling beside me is very likely to be the next Lady Peverell-Potter.

"I hope that meets with your approval."

As the two knelt there with Harry's arm around Luna's shoulders - her head in the crook of his shoulder and her nearest hand resting on his nearest thigh - they both felt what felt like a warm and gentle embrace.

Harry gave a gasp of shock while Luna slightly twitched in surprise.

It was a few moments after the feeling left again before Luna quietly said, "They approve!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

From the Godric's Hollow Cemetery, the two returned to The Griffon's Claw to floo to Luna's place in Ottery St. Catchpole.

They'd just passed through the main part of the pub and were heading for the back room, after handing over a couple of sickles for the use of floo powder, to use the floo and didn't notice the person sitting at the back of the pub gawk at them in shock.

As they walked into the hallway leading to the back-room, that person quickly cast a Disillusionment charm on themselves and a Sound-masking charm on their feet before rising and hurrying after them.

He arrived there to find the Peverell Lord alone. Clearly the girl, who he realised was the Lovegood chit, had already left.

Standing in the hallway and out of sight in case Peverell was able to see through Disillusionment charms, he carefully listened.

He was rewarded when, only a couple moments later, he heard Peverell activate the floo and call out 'The Rookery'.

He gave it only a couple of seconds before peeking into the room and finding it empty.

He quickly hurried back to his seat, dropped his charms and waited only a few moments before rising again and hurrying out of the pub. Then he only went far enough to be outside the permanent anti-apparation jinx before he apparated away.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry was surprised to learn that the Lovegood private cemetery was located on the Lovegood property back within a grove of trees. More surprising was how far back from the house it was.

"Just how big _is_ your property, Luna?" he asked, as they walked from the house to the grove; a house that was oddly shaped like a giant rook piece from chess.

"Quite large," she replied. "It's quite a ways from boundary to boundary."

She stopped and pointed off to the north east and said, "Over that rise is the Weasley's property. They're actually our next door neighbours."

"How far to their house?" he asked.

"About a mile," she shrugged.

"That's... quite a fair bit of land," he said. "And how close is your house to the boundaries?"

"The one between the Burrow and us is about three quarters of a mile from here. The one out the front is about a quarter mile. The one out the back, which is the direction we're heading, is about two miles. And the one to our left is about a mile and a half," she replied. "Of the four corners, our house is closest to the south-eastern one."

"The wards must be huge!" he said.

"Well, the wards are in three layers," she explained. "There's a muggle notice-me-not over the entire property. Then, there's a set of wards that surround just the yard around the house. And the final set is on the house, itself. I can proudly say I was a major contributor to the middle and inner-most layer of wards."

"Oh! And there's also a set of wards on the Lovegood family plot; which is where, of course, we're heading now."

As she spoke and they continued to walk, Harry nodded along.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Riddle was standing at a table on the floor before his throne that contained maps, lists of strategies and the like, while talking to two of his Inner Circle; when a Death Eater hurried in and threw himself onto his knees on the floor before him.

"Master!" gasped the wizard. "I bring news!"

Riddle frowned down at him and said, "Unless it's news concerning the Peverell lord, I'm not currently interested."

"That's just it, Master; it is!"

From where he was turning away, Riddle snapped back to stare at the kneeling wizard and growled, " _Tell me!_ "

The Death Eater quickly related what he had seen at The Griffon's Claw in Godric's Hollow, together with the floo address Peverell had called before stepping into the flames.

"The Rookery?" Riddle demanded for clarification.

"Yes, Master," the Death Eater was quick to reply.

"The Rookery is the home of the blood traitor Lovegoods," offered Malfoy. Turning to the Death Eater, he said, "Describe the young woman who was with Peverell."

Once he did, Malfoy turned to Riddle and said, "That sounds like the Lovegood bint, alright, My Lord."

Frowning in thought, Riddle was a moment looking down at the Death Eater who'd reported before he said, "You have done very well. You will be rewarded. Go back to whatever it was you were doing before you spotted Peverell and... Lovegood."

The kneeling Death Eater was quick to nod, rise and hurry from the room.

Turning back to one of the other Death Eaters present, Riddle said, "Summon the Circle."

As the indicated Death Eater gave a short bow and hurried from the room, Riddle then turned back to Malfoy. "I want you and... take two of the juniors and go 'knock' on the wards of this... Rookery.

"Make sure both know no harm is to befall Peverell. Also, since he is clearly with the Lovegood chit at the moment, make sure no harm befalls her, either. Even if he first refuses, no harm is to befall either of them. If harm befalls either, severe punishment awaits you and them both."

Turning back to the table, Riddle quickly wrote a short sentence on a slip of parchment and handed it to the blonde ponce.

"The Secret," he said. "Make sure he reads it before you bring him."

Then he picked up the quill he'd been using and cast the portkey charm on it. "Portus!"

After it finished glowing blue he handed it to Malfoy and said, "That will bring him, you and the other two to the entrance hall. The activation is a tap of your wand to it with your magical signature."

After first accepting the slip of parchment, then the quill portkey, Malfoy gave a bow and said, "As you command, My Lord." Then spun and quickly hurried from the room.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry and Luna were just in the process of heading back to her house after visiting her mother's grave, she'd promised him a tour, when she suddenly stopped and looked off into the distance. Harry immediately recognised it as something of her Seer ability kicking in.

Suddenly she frowned and said, "Harry, we have to hurry back to the house. I'll explain everything when we get there." Then she suddenly took off at a run.

Harry was well past fit enough to run to both catch her and keep up with her. However, while he could both run and ask questions at the same time, he knew Luna's fitness wasn't up to his. So, he held his tongue in order to urge her on and just advised her on how to run quickly without exhausting herself in the process.

When they made it to the back door and inside, Luna was gasping for breath and looked ready to collapse. Though the distance between where they were and the house was not more than about a half mile, while it did not do much to him but leaving him breathing a little heavy, he knew Luna had used all her immediate energy to cover the distance as fast as she could.

"Stay standing, Luna," he warned her. "Slowly walk around a bit. Dawdling, if you need to. Deep, filling breaths."

With only a nod back, she did exactly that for about fifteen seconds until she recovered some of her breathing.

Finally, though still breathing a little heavily, she said, "We're about to be... visited... by some Death Eaters..."

Harry was instantly on alert and drew his wand.

"Lucius Malfoy... and two... others," she explained. "They're... not here... to attack us. Malfoy... has a message... to give you."

Frowning in confusion, Harry was a moment before he asked, "How do they know I'm― _Wait!_ At The Griffon's Claw. Someone followed us in and heard either of us call the floo destination."

"Yes," she huffed, still slowly walking. "Tom Riddle has sent... Malfoy to give you... an invitation to meet... with him."

"To meet?" asked a now thoroughly confused Harry.

"He wants to meet... Lord _Peverell_ ," she clarified.

Surprised, Harry was a moment in deep thought before he asked, "Should I go?"

Luna smirked back and, still breathing heavily, replied, "Yes; you should. This is both a nexus in time... and a serendipitous event. I did not See this coming... It can be used to... hasten things.

"This is what you need to do..."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Luna had only just finished briefing Harry on what was about to happen and what he could do to use it when she suddenly stiffened, startled. And looked away for a moment.

"They're here," she said and focused back on Harry. "Malfoy has _politely_ used the Ward Knock charm."

Harry nodded and said, "I guess I should go out and see what they want."

"I'll watch from the window," she said. "Give me the signal if it's all okay."

He nodded and then took Luna into his arms for a hug. The signal was a 'V for victory' gesture out of sight of Malfoy and whoever was with him.

They'd stood that way for a long few seconds before Luna suddenly stiffened again.

Pulling back, she said, "He just knocked again. A little more firmly, this time."

With a sigh he said, " _Impatient_ bastard... Wish me luck?"

"You don't need it," she returned. "However, if it makes you feel better..." Then she leaned in and quickly kissed him.

After a moment he was able to return it.

Then he backed off, braced himself up and firmly stated, "Time to do this!"

Walking over to the front door he opened it and walked out.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Standing only an approximate hundred feet away from him and on the other side of a low gate, he saw Malfoy and two other Death Eaters just standing there; with Malfoy in the lead and the other two standing back about five feet and forming a triangle with him.

With a snort at how easy he'd be able to take them out with how close they were standing to one another Harry pulled the door shut, stepped down off the half dozen steps of the small front uncovered porch and walked towards them.

After seeing him and bracing themselves up a bit, the three Death Eaters simply waited for him to approach.

'It's not as if they can do anything else, really,' thought Harry, walking up the path towards them. 'The wards would fry them if they tried to enter; and they have to know that, considering their previous attempts to get in.'

The last time the Death Eaters had attacked the Lovegood property they lost almost half a dozen of their number in the attempt - and _still_ didn't get in.

Stopping well inside the wards, but close enough to be heard if they raised their voices just a little, Harry said, "Well, well. Mister Malfoy and... friends. To what do I owe this _un_ expected... honour?"

Knowing he'd just been politely insulted, Malfoy slightly stiffened for the moment, but held his tongue. Only the bare slight beetling of the brow and quiver of the corner of his lip of a supressed sneer gave away his anger.

Once he took a moment to get it under control, he said, "I come at the urging of my Lord. He invites you to attend him, so he may discuss matters with you he believes would be of importance to you both."

Harry just slightly smirked back and said, "That does not sound like his usual _modus operandi_. Evidence reflects he is more the type to just... _take_ what he wants."

Again that flicker and pause. "He believes you can be a welcome ally in his grievance with Albus Dumbledore."

Harry let a very slight expression of surprise pass across his face before quickly suppressing it. Luna told him this was the likely reason for the visit; so his surprise was not at what Malfoy had told him, but at how accurate she'd Seen the situation.

After a moment he gave a slow nod and said, "Very well. If my safety is assured and I will be able to freely leave once our... discussion... has ended, then perhaps a time and place for such a meeting could be arranged."

Harry saw as all three slightly relaxed and could see, from the two at the back, that they were relieved by his answer.

"The dark lord w- _asks_ that you attend him now," said Malfoy. There was a momentarily delay before he offered, "He... is eager to see an.. _agreement_ quickly be forged between you. He grows tired of the threat that is Albus Dumbledore."

'Not used to having to negotiate... _are_ you, Malfoy?' thought Harry. 'You were all set to try and _order_ me to attend, using Riddle's authority as your own.'

Appearing to give it thought so he didn't appear eager, Harry looked away for a moment with a look of concentration on his face.

After a long few seconds, where he could tell the two minions with Malfoy were beginning to get a little 'antsy', he turned back. "Very well, Mister Malfoy..."

Again with the relief.

"I believe I shall accompany you," he carefully said. " _However_... I shall not be harmed... or _insulted_... in any form and shall be allowed to freely leave once I consider my business with your Lord is complete."

Malfoy was quick to accept. "Of course, Lord Peverell."

As Harry began walking the few steps to take him beyond the wards, he allowed his off-hand to be hidden by his robes from the three before him and gave a downward-pointing Victory signal behind his back. That was the signal for Luna that all was as it should be.

He was careful to watch the three, looking for any sign of deception, as he crossed the wards; most importantly, Malfoy.

With a slight smile, Malfoy carefully withdrew a slip of parchment and a quill from his _off-hand_ inside breast pocket of his robes. Then, after switching the quill to his right hand for the moment, he held the parchment slip up so Harry could read it.

"Where we are going is under a Fidelius," he explained. "You need to read this to be aware of the Secret which protects it."

Harry looked to the slip and saw:

 _The Dark Lord's headquarters is located at Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire_

As soon as he looked up, Malfoy quickly slid the slip back into the same off-hand inside robe breast pocket, before then switching the quill to his off-hand and offering it.

"A portkey," he explained. " _Higgs!_ _Dedworth!_ Time to leave."

As the other two came up on each side of Malfoy and reached out to each place a finger on the quill, Malfoy drew his wand.

Harry took a half pace back and looked ready to draw his wand when Malfoy quickly said, " _No_!... Lord Peverell."

When Harry hesitated, he explained, "My apologies. I need to tap the portkey with my wand. It's keyed to my magical signature."

Harry paused a moment, gave a firm nod and, in a low voice, said, "Be aware. I do not take kindly to people drawing their wands on me. I take it as a grave insult."

"Again, my apologies," said Malfoy, clearly relieved Harry hadn't drawn his own wand.

Harry gave a single nod back, relaxed and stepped forward to place a finger on the quill. He used his right hand as he didn't want to draw attention to the _kara kesh_ on his left, even if it was somewhat hidden under a Disillusionment charm.

Malfoy, more carefully this time, raised his wand and tapped the quill.

They were gone in the swirl of the activated portkey.

Luna, from where she was watching through the window right next to the front door, gave a sigh of relief and headed for the floo. She knew, once she got back to Grimmauld Place and told Sirius what had happened, there would be a lot of yelling coming her way.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As expected, the portkey deposited them in Malfoy Manor. Harry of course, never having been there before, had no idea what the rightful Seat of the House of Black looked like, so looked around a bit.

His immediate impression was there was a lot of white green-veined marble with black marble highlights. Then there was also the subtle serpent motif throughout.

Of course, he only got that through his secondary scanning. He was more focused on who he could see that was a threat. There was only one person in the room, an entry hall, waiting for them - Draco Malfoy.

' _Still_ with the overuse of hair gel, Ferret?' he thought. 'I would've thought you'd have grown out of that, by now.'

The young man the boy had grown into was still quite skinny, but now had a sort of wiry build to him.

"Father," said Ferret, with a slight bow. And, subtly gesturing to a set of closed double doors set into the right-hand wall as you would step in through the main doors of the manor and which were behind him, added, "The Dark Lord has gathered the Inner Circle and awaits in his audience room."

' _Audience room_?' thought Harry. 'He really _does_ see himself as Emperor, doesn't he?'

Malfoy the younger continued, "Only the Inner Circle is to remain in the manor while the dark lord receives his guest."

"Very well," said Malfoy senior, before he turned to Harry. He gestured to the doors and said, "This way, Lord Peverell. Higgs, Dedworth, _leave_."

Harry gave a single nod and followed the elder Malfoy the dozen feet to the doors.

As Malfoy then reached out with both hands to open them, he hesitated and quietly said, "I shall announce you, Lord Peverell."

After hearing the double pop of departing apparations from the two minions that accompanied Malfoy to and from Luna's place, Harry softly returned, "As is proper."

Over his shoulder, Malfoy gave a single nod and again reached forward with both hands. He opened both doors, simultaneously. Then stepped through one pace with his head bowed.

"My Lord," he deferentially called, "I bring an honoured guest. I present, Lord Hardwin Peverell of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell." Then he quickly stepped to the side with his head bowed and almost subtly gestured Harry inside.

Harry firmly thought to himself, 'Let's do this.' And walked through the doors, passing a slightly bowing Malfoy.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Standing on the dais before his throne, already aware 'Peverell' had arrived via portkey, Riddle was striking his best 'I am a powerful pure-blood lord and you should fear me' pose.

As soon as the doors, together, swung open and Malfoy took the pace through to announce Peverell, he thought, 'Now _that_ is how you announce someone.' He would have to remember to reward the man later for his pomp and circumstance. He hoped it would have the Peverell lord in a better state of mind for him.

When Peverell stepped through, he saw the young man's eyes immediately scan the entire room before finally coming to a halt staring at his own.

He then saw the subtle nod as the man then walked forward, allowing his eyes to look about while also clearly 'taking his measure' as he'd once heard it called. Lucius followed him closer while Draco re-closed the doors and took up a position within the room and near the doors.

As Peverell came forward, Riddle gave a slight gesture. And his most loyal minions backed well out of the way, almost to the side walls, giving the Peverell lord plenty of room.

He watched as Peverell surreptitiously watched them move and develop a very slight smirk for just a moment.

'It amuses him,' he thought. 'But, _why_ did his gaze linger just slightly on Severus? Do they know one another; or does he know _of_ him?'

Unsurprisingly, Peverell stopped about twenty five feet short of him. "Am I correct in assuming you are the one known as Lord Voldemort?" the young man softly asked.

Harry heard a stifled hiss coming from one of the minions to his right. Lucius, moving to a position near the wall to Peverell's right, almost stuttered in his smooth stride as he walked.

Riddle, however, gave a slight smirk and replied, "Indeed. Welcome, Lord Peverell. I feel I have waited many weeks to finally meet you."

"I thank you for the invitation," he returned.

While giving the appearance of casually walking back to what was clearly his throne, Riddle said, "And I thank you for accepting it."

Nonchalantly, Riddle then sat upon it and said, "I trust my good friend, Lucius, was respectful in offering it?"

"He was," he replied with a slight nod.

'No offer of a chair?' he thought. 'Thank you, for that; though you probably did it to try and intimate you're the more powerful between us. Being on my feet means I can more quickly move.'

Riddle gave his own slight nod back after a quick glance to his left to Malfoy. "I asked you to join me because I believe we have a mutual enemy - Albus Dumbledore."

Harry gave a slight snort of amusement and wryly replied, "I do not so much consider that half-blood, self-aggrandising, hubris-riddled, geriatric, white-whiskered, old fairy an enemy as much as I find him a significant _annoyance_." And scowled.

Riddle burst out in laughter.

"He does seem rather upset with you, though," said Riddle.

Harry gave another snort and said, "Because he both does not know who I am and because I do not praise before the mighty pedestal on which stands the so-called great Albus Dumbledore.

"Because I do not, he has immediately labelled me as dark."

"Are you?" Riddle immediately pressed.

"I do not see a distinction between light and dark," he replied. "There is just... _magic_.

"As such, him labeling me as dark is like water off a duck's back. It does not cause me any concern. _Especially_ , when it comes from an old fraud like Albus Dumbledore."

Riddle sat back and smirked. "Figured him out, have you?"

With a slight huff, he replied, "It wasn't a difficult exercise for one who knows how to analyse a situation; for one who knows how to properly research _and actually does it_."

"And how did _you_ figure it out?" asked Riddle.

Well, he wasn't going to tell him about Luna and her gift.

"Everybody knows... and you'll pardon me if I sneer at that phrase... everybody knows Bathilda Bagshot is an old family friend of the Dumbledores. Throughout Dumbledore's teen years they lived near one another in Godric's Hollow. Before that, the Dumbledores lived in Mold on the Wold.

"Bathilda Bagshot is also the author of almost every book on recent wizarding British history. For your information, if you didn't already know, she is also the maternal aunt of one Gellert Grindelwald."

That earned him a few gasps from the minions around the walls and a cocked eyebrow from Riddle.

"As such, it was not much of an effort on _my_ part to quickly figure out that Bathilda Bagshot... as a dear friend of Albus Dumbledore... would not have written her books that showed Dumbledore in a, shall we say, _poor_ light.

"For instance, Bagshot has not included in her books that Dumbledore is a homosexual. She has also not written that Albus Dumbledore and her nephew, Gellert, were... quite close... while Grindelwald was staying at her place in the 1910s after being kicked out of Durmstrang.

"While having to look after his little sister, Ariana, while forced to stay at Godric's Hollow because his mother had passed, old Albie and Gellert struck up a friendship. Between them, they came up with a slogan, 'Für das Allgemeinwohl'; it's German, Grindelwald's adopted mother tongue, for 'For the Greater Good'."

Again, the gasps. Riddle went from being quite amused to almost staring at Harry in his intensity.

Harry thought, 'Did none of them know of what I spoke the first time Dumbledore accosted me after I got back? The idiots didn't do their homework.'

"Aberforth, Dumbledore's younger brother, finally had enough of the pair of them and what he feared Grindelwald was turning his big brother into... and initiated a duel between he and Grindelwald. A duel, which old Albus jumped into.

"During the duel, Ariana was killed and Grindelwald fled.

"Aberforth believes it was his brother who killed his sister; if not by his own wand, then by bringing Grindelwald into their home at the time. And since that time the two brothers have been estranged, with Aberforth the aggressor of that.

"It's one of the main reasons Dumbledore... Albus, that is... is constantly pleading with people to _forgive_. He's subconsciously, I'm sure, hoping that's what his brother will do with regards to him.

"Immediately on Ariana's death, Grindelwald fled back to Europe.

"Less than ten years later he had formed his Knights of Walpurgis. Less than five years after that, the ICW declared him a dark lord."

Harry had begun walking back and forth, as he gave his talk. Then, at each 'end' he began to start rapidly spinning about 180 degrees. He wanted Riddle and his minions used to him giving sudden movements and not being alarmed by them.

Slowly, but surely, he was setting things up the way he wanted them. He would slowly pace from one side to the other with measured steps, then quickly spin on his heel and slowly pace back the other way. Every now and then he would spin to face Riddle, looking at the man, to emphasis a point, before then continuing the turn to return to pacing.

"Now," he said, quickly spinning again, "By then, Dumbledore had his phoenix familiar. As you'd know, a phoenix can flash anyone to anywhere in the world in a few moments."

Harry spun to face; Riddle nodded.

Starting to slow pace again, Harry continued. "That means that Dumbledore, with the phoenix's help, could have flashed directly to Grindelwald at any time. Dumbledore already intimately knew Grindelwald. And a phoenix knows what its companion knows."

Spin about.

"At any time, Dumbledore could have had Fawkes flash him directly into Grindelwald's presence and immediately _dealt_ with him. However, he did not do that."

Spin to face.

"Why not?

Spin to continue.

"Dumbledore waited another _thirty years_ before he finally went after Grindelwald. Why?

Spin to face.

"It is my belief that Dumbledore is a _coward_."

Spin to continue walking. "Knowing the man as well as he did he knew he could not take on Grindelwald and be assured of a win. He waited until Grindelwald was on the run in nineteen _forty-five_ with the allied forces of the ICW hunting him down."

Spin about.

"Dumbledore waited until his old lover was tired... physically exhausted, _magically_ exhausted and emotionally wrung out... before he finally had Fawkes flash him to the man's location."

Spin about.

"While Grindelwald was suffering hardship for weeks, Dumbledore sat in his ivory tower at Hogwarts as Deputy Headmaster, being waited on hand and foot by the house elves... and just _waited_."

"Finally, Dumbledore got off his arse and made his move."

Spin to face.

"It is _my_ belief that the so-called _massive_ battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald is nothing but a lie. It is a lie that was _written up_ and made history by Bathilda Bagshot as a favour for her Godric's Hollow neighbours, the Dumbledores."

Turn and continue to walk.

"Instead, I believe it was more like Dumbledore suddenly appearing behind Grindelwald in a flash of phoenix flame and..."

Spin to face.

"... Shooting the man in the back before he could even turn and raise his wand."

Continue to walk.

Harry knew he had his audience completely shocked. But he wanted them not just shocked, he wanted them to be in a mental state of mind where they would be too slow to react when he made his move.

"From that lie, Dumbledore capitalised," he continued. "From that lie, Dumbledore was soon awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. The Order of Merlin gave him a seat on the Wizengamot. And, within thirty years, he used his... _celebrity_... to become the Chief Warlock."

Spin about.

"Near simultaneous with that, he used his celebrity to also become wizarding Britain's ambassador to the ICW, before then... finally... becoming Supreme Mugwump."

Spin about.

"Grindelwald and Dumbledore planned to take over the world... _For the Greater Good_. Grindelwald tried it through violent means. Dumbledore pretty much accomplished it through deceit, manipulations, _guile_ , obliviations, compulsions and the like."

Spin to face.

" _And it's all based off a lie!_ "

Continue to walk.

"That leads us to what has recently happened. Dumbledore and his Order of the Burnt Turkey tried to ambush me in front of Gringotts. He failed in his first attempt.

"The second time two days later? Well... Having had enough of the old fool, I engineered the situation where I cut his bloody arm off."

Spin to face.

"And, how did he react? He flat-out _panicked_!"

Continue to walk.

"Albus Dumbledore... supposed Leader of the Light... supposed defeater of Gellert Grindelwald in _glorious_ battle... supposed next coming of Merlin... _panicked_. And, what did he do? He immediately turned to so-called dark magic. He cast _Fiendfyre_!"

Spin to face.

"Does that sound like a supposed Leader of the Light to you?"

As, on his last spin about, Harry saw where each and every Death Eater stood in the room. He had their positions all 'mapped' in his mind.

He continue to walk to organise the right spot for what he wanted to do next.

When Voldemort, with a massive frown on his face, looked down in clear deep thought, Harry also heard murmuring coming from the minions behind him. That meant they were talking to one another and not paying him total attention, as they should.

Harry readied his move.

"Albus Dumbledore is a manipulative, lying _fraud_. What he most definitely is not... is―" With his right side towards Riddle, he raised his left hand to his hip. A gesture he'd already made a couple of times already. However, this time he released his disillusioned, already-activated Zat'nik'tel from its holster as he turned back to Riddle. "― Leader of the―"

Raising it he fired from the hip as he infused his body with magical energy to speed it up as he snapped out, "― _Light!_ "

The white bolt of electrical energy, travelling far faster than a cast, sped from Zat' to Riddle.

Trapped in his throne and not being able to dive out of the way, Riddle only had time to reach for his wand before the bolt of energy struck him centre of mass.

As it did, Harry was already dropping the Zat' to the floor and cocking his left elbow in; as he reached across with his right hand and drew his wand from his sleeve.

With it free and in his hand, he pulled it back as he re-extended his left hand and activated the _kara kesh_.

A fraction of a second later he was already into an anti-clockwise spin and casting. Not mucking about he was swishing his wand side-to-side and casting, at hip height, the Ribbon Cutting curse.

Bright pink, the curse flashed out from his wand tip in wide horizontal swathes. ' _Saw! Saw! Saw! Saw! Saw! Saw!_ ' So fast, was he casting, it was like a pink strobe light.

With his _kara kesh_ shield leading the way, only two death eaters managed to get casts back at him before he completed his spin. And both of them would have been to his right if he hadn't spun. The shield of the _kara kesh_ absorbed both curses before they reached him.

Back to facing Riddle, he saw the man was still unconscious and spun for a second time, looking to see who survived his cutting curses. None were still on their feet.

Harry blinked and hesitated just a bare moment in shock. He did not expect it to be that easy.

Surprised and knowing Riddle was no longer truly human and might just be able to come around from the effects of a Zat' strike before he would otherwise expect, Harry spun to face him again.

Not wanting to dwell on the situation, he raised his wand and took careful aim at Riddle's head.

' _Stab!_ '

The Piercing curse leapt from his wand and flew true; right between Riddle's eyebrows and slightly above - or, where his eyebrows would be if he had any.

Riddle's, now body from its slight lean to the left, gave one quick start of unconscious shock as a one inch wide hole appeared in the middle of his brow. And the blood splatter on the seat back of the throne behind his head showed it to have gone right through.

He was dead.

A moment later, a black mist rose out of the body and, within, a face began to form; Riddle's.

The face fully formed and screamed at him. " _Who are you!? That should have been impossible! You are_ not _Neville Longbottom!_ "

Harry grinned back and lightly chuckled. "Neville Longbottom was _never_ the one prophecised to kill you, Tom."

As the wraith floated there slightly above the body, Harry continued, "Remember the line, 'And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives'?

"It means one must be dead and kill the other before they can be alive again. How _else_ does it make sense?"

With a wide grin on his face as the wraith looked at him in angry shock, Harry raised his wand hand and, still with the wand in his hand, held up his hair fringe on the right of his forehead. With the hair out of the way the faint scar stood out, light on darkened skin. "I'm Harry Potter, you stupid prick. Someone they declared _dead_ over three years ago."

The pseudo-eyes of the wraith opened wide with the pseudo-mouth gaping open. It was a long moment before the face then developed an expression of supreme fury.

With a scream of anger, it surged towards Harry.

Harry, knowing what Riddle would try next from when he'd killed Quirrell, activated his _kara kesh_ once more in a shield before himself.

Riddle struck it, causing it to flare, and was flung back in clear agony.

"Not this time, Tom," said Harry, smirking at the recovering wraith. "I learned from the time you possessed Quirrell."

Harry saw the wraith 'glance' to his right.

Snapping his _kara kesh_ active again and spinning, Harry was just in time to catch the attack strike upon him of a _gi_ -normous green and black snake, fangs bared. ' _Nagini!_ ' he immediately realised.

The snake again struck the shield and rebounded. Then, before it could reposition for another attack, Harry blew its head off with a blasting curse from close range.

" _Noooooo...!_ " Tom screamed in anguish as a black mist rose from the snake and, with an echoing scream, slammed into the main one.

Harry spun back, expecting another direct attack by the wraith. Instead, he witnessed it start to break up before it, with Riddle's scream echoing as if into the distance, faded away.

"Hunh!" he harrumphed. 'The snake was the last Horcrux. Good to know.'

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With Riddle now dead for good - and after first picking up his dropped Zat'nik'tel, deactivating it and re-holstering it - Harry started to walk around the room, anti-clockwise. He started with Riddle's body, summoning off it his wand. Then went from body to body summoning wands, portkeys and the like. As he moved to each he also checked to see if they were alive. Unsurprisingly, seeing as he caught them all flat-footed without, in many cases, even their wand in their hand let alone an active shield in place, they were all clearly dead. A ribbon cutting curse cast laterally at hip height that isn't shielded against tends to... well... 'mourners' could, in many occasions, use _two_ caskets for each body if they wanted.

The portkeys, he left in the middle of the floor; the wands, for about half of them he first cast an offensive combat curse through roughly where he'd stood from where the body lay. And dropped them all into his off-hand front trouser pocket.

He was able, on that pass around the 'circle' of bodies, to confirm that both male Malfoys and Severus Snape were dead. Snape was one of the Death Eaters who'd managed to get a cast off back at him. The other was the one who cursed Hermione with a silent cutter back in the DoM - Dolohov. However, neither Malfoy stood a chance. Neither even managed to draw a wand before they were hit by at least one ribbon cutter. He had the younger Malfoy 'manage' to get a cast off back at him.

There were also a couple who _weren't_ dead, irrespective that they'd been effectively cut in half. Knowing they didn't have long to live anyway, he used one of the other wands to silently stun them. They'd bleed out quickly enough, soon enough.

He was about to go and explore the rest of the manor to see what he could find when he remembered something important; two things important, actually. He went over to Lucius Malfoy's body where it lay flat on its back on the floor, reached into the body's inner breast pocket and found the slip of parchment with the Secret to the Fidelius charm on the manor written upon it.

He had to put up with the stink of opened bowels permeating the room, but he'd smelled much worse in the past. And eviscerated, if not completely cut in half, bodies no longer concerned him all that much. He'd seen far worse.

With the slip of parchment with the written down Secret in his hand he went over and stood on Riddle's dais and raised his wand, pointing straight up.

"I, Lord Harry James Potter and known as Lord Hardwin Peverell of the Houses of Potter and Peverell, as Heir Black of the House of Black hereby claim this property and all it contains as spoils of war for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. _Prædātum!_ _Prædātum!_ As I say, I so claim, so must it be!"

There was a great flash of white coloured magic that surged from his wand tip. It radiated outwards in a wave of light, before then reaching the walls and passing through them.

A long moment later, as if to prove his claim, he felt the wards of the property connect with his magic. 'Damn, it _worked_!' he thought. 'Gods _bless_ you, Luna Selene Lovegood!'

Thinking of her, he realised he needed to let her know that he was alright and Riddle was dealt with.

In a clear voice he asked out loud, "Can I have an ex-Malfoy house elf, please?"

With a pop, one appeared. "New Master?" it fearfully asked.

Harry could see it was in just as poor a state as Dobby had been in when he'd first 'rescued' him at the end of his second year.

"Hello, little one," he kindly said. "Please be assured I will not punish you. I need to know if there is anyone else in this manor, or on the grounds, at this time and who is also still alive."

The elf looked around in awe for a moment before it turned back and replied, "There be ex-Mistress up in her... suites... on the second floor. She be... un-con-shus. Ex-Master did beats her.

"Then there be 'prisinees' in basement cells. Theys be safe, but theys be unwell."

As Harry became angry he realised his anger must have been reflected in his expression. The little elf began to cower.

Getting his anger under control through sheer will, not using his Occlumency, Harry was a moment before he felt he had sufficiently suppressed it. Then he turned to the elf and said, "Sorry. I did not mean for you to think I was angry at _you_. I'm not; I'm angry at there being prisoners here. Now, what's your name?"

"Tippy, Master," the elf, Tippy, replied.

"Are there other elves that were Malfoy and are now mine?"

"Yes, Master."

When the elf didn't extrapolate on that, Harry realised it was obviously conditioned to not do so.

"What are their names?" he asked.

"They be Slappy, Hoggy aaand... Dobby," replied the elf.

Confused at being informed the Malfoys had another house elf named Dobby, it was a long moment before Harry realised what had happened. Tippy was reporting Dobby because Dobby met the requirements of the question, even though he'd been Harry's elf for over six years.

"Excluding Dobby, where are they?" he asked.

"Slappy be attending Mistress... _ex_ -Mistress. And Hoggy be working out in the gardens," the elf immediately replied.

Thinking about what he needed to do, he also thought about what he needed to do _first_. 'First, the wards,' he thought.

Looking to the elf he said, "I need to take proper control of the wards. Where do I need to go and what do I need to do to accomplish that?"

"Master must follow me to the office," said the elf.

"Then, lead me, please," said Harry. He thought, 'Secure the premises, then deal with the prisoners.'

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	13. A Terrible Accident

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Some readers of this and my other stories have asked about the term 'naff'. Believe it or not it is _not _a word I simply made up to replace a similar four letter word beginning with the letter 'F'. Instead, it's a Polari word that became prominent in the UK after a couple of UK television shows during the late seventies and early eighties started using it. By rights, 'naff' could pretty much be interchangeable with 'spiffy'; however, during the late eighties it morphed into becoming a swear word of its own and was used by the youths of the day as a way to swear without getting into trouble for it. That's why I have Harry, on occasion, use it; its historically accurate.  
_

 _ **A/N 2:** And, no, I do not apologise for the supposed 'cliffhanger' at the end of the previous chapter. If you folks who complained couldn't wait what was effectively only four days for this chapter, might I suggest a Valium or two._

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen - A Terrible Accident**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Fifteen seconds later, Harry was led by the elf into the head-of-house study on the other side of the manor. And, after being shown where the ward book was located and then how to change the wards, Harry quickly had it done.

Once he was done he breathed a sigh of relief. At any moment a Death Eater, who wasn't privy to or invited to attend the meeting between he and Riddle, could have suddenly turned up. With the changes he made to the wards, everyone was blocked from getting in via apparation, floo or portkey. Now, no one could leave except via a portkey he'd made... or simply walking out the door, crossing the grounds and walking out the front gate.

'Right,' he thought. 'That's done. Next, the prisoners.'

"Tippy."

"Yes, Master?"

"How do I find the prisoners?"

"Theys be in the secret cells under drawing room floor, Master," the elf replied.

"How do I get down there?"

"There be a secret enty-rance in the drawing room, Master."

"Can I activate the secret entrance so I can get in?"

"Yes, Master."

"Great," he happily returned. "Show me how to activate it so I can go and get them out."

"Yes, Master.". Then it gestured back to the door to the office and said, "This way, Master."

Following the elf he was surprised it led him back to the 'audience' room. Then, once inside, he gestured to a wall sconce and said, "Master must be turnings that to the right side one quarter turn. That will open hidden enty-rance."

"The entrance is in here?" he asked.

Indicating a seven foot tall cabinet that appeared flush with the wall, one that had a big gash across it at hip height from one of Harry's ribbon cutters, the elf said, "The enty-rance be behind that cabby-nets, master."

"That's the only way in or out?" he asked.

"Yes, Master."

Thinking a bit he asked, "These prisoners. Any women or children with them?"

"Yes, Master."

With a sigh, he thought about the problem of bringing children up past the bodies.

"Damn!" he quietly said. That was not something he wanted 'innocents' to see. However the bodies were, until decided otherwise by the DMLE, part of a 'crime scene'.

Then he had it. He'd go muggle for this.

"Tippy, please go and get for me as many bed sheets as there are bodies in here," he ordered. "I intend to cover them with the sheets."

"Yes, Master," replied the elf before it popped away. It was back only moments later with a stack of folded linen.

Harry took the top one and said, "This is what I want you to do for each, alright?" Then he flicked the sheet open and allowed it to billow out over the body closest to him to entirely cover it and the pooling blood and other fluids that came from it. "Got that?"

"Yes, Master," replied the elf before it snapped its fingers and every body, except Riddle's, was covered with a spread out sheet. Riddle's body, together with his throne on which he still 'reposed', had a sheet draped completely over them. He'd ignored the snake; so did Tippy.

Looking around to make sure it was all covered, Harry declared, "Perfect."

Then he turned back to look at the wall sconce and said, "Let's open it up."

Walking to the sconce, he gave it a twist to the right and felt it in his hand as something 'clicked' just before it reached the full quarter turn. Looking to the cabinet, he saw the closest edge had popped away from the wall about an inch.

He then took the step to it, slipped his fingers of his off hand into the crack and pulled it open. It silently came away like a large, heavyweight door; with not even a squeak of hinge.

"Alright, Tippy," he softly said. "Let's go rescue them."

Directly behind the cabinet was a set of stairs that led down half a flight to a small landing. He walked down that and saw the second half of the full flight leading down and back under the drawing room floor on the other half of the landing. He then walked down those.

He was unsurprised to find ever-burn torches, like found at Hogwarts, lit the way.

At the bottom of the stairs and directly under the wall of the drawing room was a heavy metal door. A set of keys were hanging on a hook right next to it.

"Master must takes the keys," said Tippy. "They be for the cells."

Harry pulled the ring of keys off the hook and opened the unlocked door, stepping within.

As soon as he did, he could smell the sickly sweet stench of unwashed bodies mixed with the putrid smell of voided bowels.

Now leading, Tippy took Harry across the small room, past racks of what was probably dark arts artefacts and to another door, opposite the one they came in through. This one was locked.

After trying an Alohomora Unlocking charm, which didn't work, Harry checked out the keys on the ring. There were seven of them; big bulky things.

With a shrug he tried the first in the sequence and found it was the right one, right away. If it hadn't worked, he'd have tried the last next.

As he opened that door it gave a slight squeak. Immediately and, as if in response, he could hear a couple of gasps and a quiet whimper as if from a small girl.

There were six cells, three each side of a short passageway. At the end of the passageway was a plain wooden cabinet up against the wall and facing Harry. Each cell door was a simple wrought iron cell door set with bolts into the plain undressed stone of the walls.

Harry walked past each of the first four, glancing within each as he went, before he reached the furthest two; the first one on his right he passed was empty. Looking within the first of the last two, he was quick to open it. There was a younger and older witch inside. Both were sitting on a wooden pallet-style bed and appeared a little worse for wear. As soon as they saw him the younger one whimpered a little and was cuddling into the older one.

"Ladies," he quietly said. "I'm here to rescue you."

The older of the two looked back with defiance and said, "And who might you be? You're no auror."

"What?" he asked, pretending to be offended. "Only aurors can effect rescues?"

"Who _are_ you?" she demanded.

"You may call me... Dudley Do-Right of the Canadian Mounties," he replied. "Neither of you might be Nell Fenwick, but I'll rescue you anyway."

While she looked at him with suspicion he asked, "Can both of you walk? Or, do I need to find a healer to come down here, first?"

"We can walk," she grumped.

"Good," he replied, "I have other cells to open." Then he spun around and went to the cell opposite.

Looking in at the man inside he realised it was Florean Fortescue. He was conscious, sitting on the wooden pallet thing and looking back in suspicion.

"Hi!" he said, unlocking the door. "I'll be your friendly neighbourhood rescuer today. Are you able to walk?"

"Yes," said Fortescue, struggling to stand. "I can walk."

"Excellent," smiled Harry, after making sure the man was at least on his feet.

The next cell contained a goblin, of all beings. It was Griphook. He, too, was sitting on the wooden pallet.

"Well met, Cart Goblin Griphook," said Harry. He then goblin-saluted the being.

The goblin just huffed at him and sneered, ignoring the salute. Harry mentally reasoned it meant he'd been taken before Harry was accorded his Warrior's Honour by Ragnok.

By rights, Harry knew he could take offence. He didn't and soon had the door unlocked and open. "On your feet, Grip of the Hook Clan. Time to go."

That had the goblin looking at him with hate, but getting to his feet.

The next and opposite had an auror, in uniform.

"Hi there," said Harry. "You ready to get back to work, Auror?"

The auror, who was not sitting on the pallet, was standing with his back against the opposite wall, had his arms crossed and was frowning at Harry as Harry unlocked the door.

"You're... really here to rescue us?" he warily asked.

"Yup!" Harry returned, pulling the door open. "I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the hairball that clogs your drains. I am the surprise in your cereal box. I... am _Darkwing Duck_!"

Harry mentally smirked at the man's expression and thought, 'Who'd have thought surreptitiously watching the cartoons on the telly while Dudley watched them, back before Hogwarts, would come in so handy?'

Moving on to the next one there was, to start with, a woman dressed in what looked like Healer's robes inside. She was with a woman with two young girls. Other than the healer, the other three were dressed muggle. However, their clothing was pretty torn up even worse than it was for the two witches in the first cell he opened at the end. Harry had a pretty fair idea why they were there... and still alive. It did not bear thinking upon.

"Good afternoon," he almost chirpily said. Looking to the older women of the three muggles he asked, "Who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men?"

She looked puzzled for a moment before her expression cleared a little and she replied, "The Shadow knows."

He grinned, "Good answer."

"Who are you, really?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" he asked right back. "Think of me as Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you."

Looking to the Healer as the woman looked back in shock. He asked, "Before you come out of there, do you have your bag? You know the one I mean."

"Down the end of the hall in the cabinet," the healer immediately replied.

"Ah!" he said. Turning to look back he could see that the four humans and one goblin had all come out of their cells and were quietly following along.

"Excuse me!" he said, "Rescuer, coming through!"

Then walked past the five as he marched back up the short passage to the cabinet.

A quick open of the double wooden doors and he found items on the shelves. No wands, but definitely the Healer's bag. He grabbed the other stuff within, sliding it all into his pockets, before picking up the healer's bag by the handle and turning about again.

The five had not moved, but the healer had just stepped slightly out of the cell to look.

He walked back up, past the five, and handed the healer the bag. Then he reached into his left 'thigh' pocket and pulled out the stack of wands he had there.

Laying them out on his palms as best he could he said, "See which one works for you best."

First, wary it was a trick, she carefully reached out and plucked one up, before looking back at him. Harry hadn't moved, he just stood there with his hands spreading out the wands and just watching.

"Try others, if that one doesn't suit," he urged.

She then quickly went through a half dozen before she picked one up and gave a little gasp. "This one will do."

Closing his hands and sliding the rest into his pocket again, he said, "Right. Anyone that needs healing enough for us to get back up to the entrance hall, I think the lovely healer here can get you at least that far."

"If you're really here to rescue us, then give us a wand each," said the older of the two witches he rescued from the first cell he opened.

"Actually... that's a pretty good idea," he said. He reached back into his pocket and pulled out the wands again. However one of the wands, Riddle's, he first slipped back into his pocket.

"Come on, then," he said. "See if one suits you."

The others, bar Griphook, tentatively came forward and each tried one. Some had to return to others they'd already tried, but they each took one.

Once the last one took one, the young woman from the cell who'd been cuddling into the older one, the auror immediately raised the one he'd just taken and firmly pressed the tip of it under Harry's chin. "Take us out of here."

" _Well_ , rude auror," said Harry. "That's what I'm in the process of doing. Now, how about you help some of the less ambulatory among these folks instead of acting like a right prick."

"Who _are_ you?" he demanded.

"No one of consequence. However, I'm going to be the person who takes that wand back off you, bends you over and shoves it up your arse," said Harry. "If you want out of here, take that wand away. You're likely going to need both arms to carry one of those young ladies in there." And indicated the cell that had the four females in it.

The auror stood there for a moment, clearly frustrated before he cursed a little and lowered the wand.

"Good choice," said Harry, before turning to look back in the cell.

The healer was already casting over the three muggles.

"Healer?" he asked. "Are they ambulatory?"

She was a moment before she replied, "Yes. However, we need to take it slow."

"Slow, it is," declared Harry. "Okay folks, follow me." Looking at the auror he said, "Since you won't need to carry someone after all, how's about you bring up the rear, Auror, to make sure we stay together... Or do I need to ask Mister Fortescue to do that for you?"

The Auror scowled before he said, "I can do it."

"Good man!" he declared before looking back in the cell. "Ready to go, Healer?"

"Yes," she replied, starting to help one of the two girls to their feet while the woman, who was probably their mother, helped the other one up. Both girls immediately latched onto the older woman as if glued to her side.

'She looks the right age to be their mother,' he thought.

As the last cell was empty, Harry hadn't bothered to open it.

With the others all now freed, he opened the door through which he first entered the cell area and said, "Please don't touch anything on the shelves as we walk through. I've no doubt they're all dark artefacts or otherwise incredibly dangerous." Then led the way.

"As Mighty Mouse would say," he said over his shoulder, making sure they had begun to follow. Then, looking back forward, sang, "Heeere... I am... to save the _daaaayyy_!"

He led them through the room of shelves and to the door opposite, then through that to the stairs leading up. However, he paused on the second step up of the second half flight and turned back.

"Alright, folks. Please listen up," he said.

When he thought he had their attention, he said, "There are a number of bodies on the floor of the room in which this secret door behind me opens onto. I've covered them with white sheets, as I suspected there would be at least one of two young ones with you lot down in the cells.

"I ask you _not_ disturb the sheets covering them as the sight is kinda yucky and we have that expected couple of young ones with us. However, there's plenty of room to walk around them without disturbing them. Everyone got that?"

When he received nods back the auror demanded, "Who are they?"

Harry gave him a look and asked right back, "Do you really want me to answer that in front of the children?"

When the auror looked defiant, Harry said, "How about, once we're through the room and out the doors on the other side, I bring you back and show you?"

"What about the people who kidnapped us?" asked the muggle woman with the two girls.

"Oh... Ummm... You don't need to worry about them anymore, Ma'am," he replied.

"And _why_ is that?" asked the auror a little snarkily.

He thought a bit and hit on an idea. "They all met with a _terrible_ accident."

"Accident?" demanded the Healer.

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "They accidentally kidnapped _me_. It proved quite fatal for them."

That had the wizards and witches all gawking at him in shock. He thought he'd have to remember that excuse. Griphook's expression was inscrutable and the three muggle women weren't surprised.

"Shall we?" he politely asked, gesturing to the stairs again. Then, before anyone could say or ask anything else, he turned about and continued climbing the stairs.

Reaching the back of the cabinet, which he'd left slightly ajar, he said, "Here we go. Please avert your eyes if you believe the sight might make you ill."

As he pushed the door open with his off-hand with his wand in his other, he gave a quick peek in case someone had managed to sneak in. The room was clear, except for the still shrouded bodies and the headless body of Nagini.

"Come along!" he said. "There's a portkey point in the entrance hall. I'll have you all out of here and to safety after we reach that point."

As he led them through the bodies and to the double doors back to the entrance hall, he could see the muggle mother was shielding the eyes of the two teen girls. She had one under each arm around their shoulders with her arms hooked around them to cover their eyes while she was looking about at the fourteen shrouded bodies in shock.

The auror was stood staring at the shrouded form of Riddle and looking at it in shock, himself. "Is that...?"

"Yup," replied Harry. "Come along, Auror. You have work to do before you can gawk like a Cadet."

That snapped the auror out of his shock and hurrying after.

Once out in the entrance hall, Harry hung back and closed the doors.

"Okay," he said. "No more 'yuckies'. Ma'am, you can let the girls see again."

The woman released her hands over the girls' eyes, but they still stayed affixed firmly to her sides under her arms. They kept glancing between him and around the room double-story room.

"Now, before I get you out of here, I need to take the auror and the Healer back into the room..." and gestured to the double doors. "They need to positively identify one of the bodies. No one would believe it, otherwise.

"We'll only be a moment, then we can get you all out of here.

"Mister Fortescue and... Ma'am?" he asked of the older witch of the first cell he opened.

"It's Candice Davis," she quietly said. "This is my daughter, Tracy."

"Nice to meet you," said Harry. "You should be aware, though, that after the attack on your home it was reported that you were both alright."

"Polyjuice," scowled Davis. "That explains why we both had hair yanked out moments after we were captured."

"Ah!" he said, turning to the auror. "Got that, Mister Snarky Auror? The two women at Davis manor, if they're still there, are DEs employing Polyjuice potion."

The auror gave a firm nod back.

"Alright," he said. "Mister Fortescue and Madam Davis. Please watch over this wonderful collection of peoples we have here. We won't be but a few moments."

"It will be my honour," said Fortescue, as Davis firmly nodded.

"Thank you, muchly," said Harry.

Harry popped open the door and walked into the room, ushering the Healer and Auror in, and firmly closed the doors.

"Alright," he said turning back to them. "I'm sure you want to know the identity of at least one of the... accident victims... here." Indicating the dais, he said, "He's the one on the throne."

The auror gave a firm nod back and marched across the room to the dais. The healer dogged his heels.

Once there he hesitated, but a moment, before he flicked the sheet off. And both gasped.

Both stood staring for a long moment before the healer stepped forward with her wand... and scanned.

"It's him, alright," she called, finishing her quick scan.

The auror just shook his head before finally flicking the sheet back over the body. He left it roughly the same as it was before he flicked it off.

They were then a moment before they both came back. Both were a little pale.

When they reached him the auror looked at him with a little fear and said, "You... you..."

"Yup," said Harry. "Me... me."

"But... Longbottom..."

"Was _never_ the Chosen One," grinned Harry. "Dumbledore _lied_. Then again, he tends to do that... _a lot_."

"But... how?" stuttered the Healer.

"As I said," he replied. "A terrible accident. A terrible... _terrible_... accident.

"Anyways," he quickly said and before either could press for further information, "Time for you people to join the others and get the hell out of here. Auror, I expect Madam Bones in the contingent of aurors who turn up here. If she is not... you are going to learn how it is I spanked old Snake Face's arse. Got that?"

"Yes, Sir," the auror was quick to respond.

"Now, I've taken control of the wards under Spoils of War to stop any more of these masked morons getting in here while I was busy with you lot," he said. "I'd appreciate if you can impress upon Bones and Hammer to get a bloody wriggle on in getting here. Got that?"

"Yes, Sir," the auror repeated.

Harry gave a nod back and turned to open the door. 'It's amazing how, once he saw Riddle's body, he's now all respectful.'

Once all three were out, he swiftly re-closed the door; before then turning back.

He then walked over to a window and pulled the cord from off its tie point that tied one of the curtains for it back, before then taking the other cord off the other curtain hanging on the other side. Then he walked back over.

Holding his wand, he incantless cast 'Portus!' on one, making sure it had the 'key charm' to the wards. He then bundled that one up and handed it to the auror. "That'll get the aurors able to get back in here with that as a portkey." Then he pulled the slip of parchment out of his pocket and handed it to the auror. "And that's the Secret to the Fidelius Charm that's currently over the property."

The auror accepted both and nodded.

"Again, you will make sure that Madam Bones is included in the group that comes back," he said. "Her, I trust. Connie Hammer, however, treated me quite _rudely_ when we last met. I don't like her and don't trust her."

The auror again nodded and muttered, "Yes, Sir."

Harry then handed the other curtain cord to the auror and asked, "Do you know how to create a portkey?"

"Yes, Sir," he replied. "All aurors do."

"Then hows-about you create a portkey to the DMLE, I'll cast the anti-porkey ward key onto it and you have all these folks taken there, first. From there, they can receive medical aid."

The auror nodded and, using his liberated wand, cast the portkey charm on the second cord. It saved Harry from using his portkey medallion Bones had given him. He then cast the 'key charm' to the anti-portkey ward upon it.

Then the auror flicked the cord out and said, "Alright, folks. Everyone take hold."

The three non-magicals had to be coaxed into doing it, but they did.

"Wait!" said the muggle woman. Looking to Harry she asked, "Who _are_ you? Please."

Harry smiled and calmly replied, "I am known as Lord Hardwin Peverell... at your service. Rescuer of damsels in distress, ice cream makers, snarky aurors and butt-ugly cart goblins."

A moment later and, as Griphook growled back, the auror activated the portkey and they were all gone.

Harry gave a firm nod at the spot and quietly said to himself, "Good. Next..."

He only had to think a moment before he gave a smirk and cast a new spell Remus had taught him only a couple of days earlier.

Raising his wand, he cast, "Mail Prongs!"

His stag Patronus leapt out of his wand and immediately turned about, waiting. Then, as it stood there, he concentrated on his message and drew it from his temple with the tip of his wand; before then flicking it into the head of the stag.

It immediately gave a short bow and shot off out through the closed main doors of the manor.

'Next.' He softly called, "Dobby!"

The little house elf appeared only a few moments later with a slight clap of displaced air.

Jumping up and down in joy, he cheered, "Master Harry! Master Ha―" before he suddenly stopped and looked around in shock.

"Yup. The so-called Malfoy manor, Dobs," said Harry. "Don't worry about it, though. Bad _old_ masters are dead."

"Truly?" asked the suddenly quite concerned elf.

"Truly," he smiled. "The only one still alive in here, besides myself, is: Madam Malfoy, who is unconscious up in her suites; the house elves Tippy, Slappy and... Hoggy; and me."

Dobby concentrated for a long moment before he said, "There be bad wizards at the gate tryings to get in."

Harry frowned and asked, "I know. The wards alerted me. What are their chances of doing that?"

Dobby grinned back and said, "They not even able to get to main wards yet. They not get in."

Harry chuckled slightly before he said, "Anyways... the reason I called you is so that you can tell Luna, Sirius and the others that I'm safe. You know where we are because you recognise the place. However, it's under a Fidelius so that's why you can't tell them. Alright?"

"Dobby knows," said the elf. "Dobby go tells them now?"

"Yes, please. And tell them I'm waiting for the aurors to turn up here so I can give my statement and leave.

"Oh! And tell Sirius I claimed... this place... as Heir of Black under Prædātum, Spoils of War. The cast was successful, so he's got this place back to being owned by the House of Black."

Dobby nodded and said, "Dobby tells." Then he was gone with a slight pop.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At the Minister's Office, Bones was in a meeting with her Senior Undersecretary when a massive stag Patronus bounded into the room through a side wall. It hesitated a moment while looking at her before an equally ethereal voice said, " _Minister, you might want to hurry your arse down to the DMLE bullpen. Very important and surprising news is in the offering._ "

Bones blinked once as the stag disappeared before she turned to an equally surprised Undersecretary. "Amos. We'll need to continue this discussion at a later time."

As she then rose, so did Amos Diggory.

"Yes, Minister," he replied.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Over at the Black Townhouse, Sirius had been pacing back and forth in the floo room while Luna sat on a couch reading a book for what, to him, felt like a great many hours. He was actually surprised it hadn't yet gone dark outside.

"He's still safe?" he demanded, not even looking at her.

"Yes, Sirius," she replied. Her tone, while polite, still reflected how many times she'd already been asked that same question within the past hour or so.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Suddenly Dobby popped in, "Master Paddyfoots, Mistress Loona. Dobby bringses message from Master Harry Sir."

Sirius had already whirled on the elf and demanded, "Where is he? Is he safe? Is he alright?"

"Master Harry Sir be... be...," the elf tried before it had to pause and think. "Master Harry Sir be under Fid-ell-eee-us magic."

"A Fidelius Charm?" asked Sirius. "Of course. I should have realised. What _can_ you tell me?"

"Master Harry Sir did kills the dark one, Master Harry Sir did," replied Dobby, excited. "Master Harry Sir did kills many Deathy Eaterers. Master Harry―"

"Stop!" commanded Sirius. "Master Harry killed He-Who?"

" _Yes_ , Master Paddyfoots, Sir," replied the elf. "Master Harry did kills the dark one and many of his Deathy Eaterers.

"Master Harry cast... cast... Pray-er-dah-tum charmies as Heir Black. Master Harry Sir says place he be now back to ownses by House Black."

"He's at... at... _damn_!" exclaimed Sirius. "That makes a whole lot of sense! And _Prædātum_? _Daaaamn!_ "

"Yes, Master Paddyfoots," said Dobby. "That be the place. Master Harry Sir now be waitings for auror-peoples to turns up. He wants to give statement. Then he comes home."

Sirius gave a huge sigh of relief before he finally collapsed into an armchair.

"I told you he was fine," said Luna.

"He killed _him_ ," said Sirius.

"Yes; and the entirety of his Inner Circle," said Luna. "Oh, when Narcissa approaches you... hear her out, would you? The lady has been badly mistreated."

"Yeah, I'll hear her out," he growled.

"Sirius," she warned.

He rolled his eyes and grumped, "Fiiiine."

She smirked and said, "You are _not_ Harry. Don't try to copy him."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry wasn't going anywhere near that upstairs suite where the Malfoy Matriarch, now Dowager Matriarch, was as he did not want to cop the blame for her being hurt. Besides, an elf was looking after her and it would have been reported to him if she was in danger of dying.

Having missed his picnic lunch he was getting a might 'peckish'. Since he had to now wait, he set himself up on the landing at the top of the stairs between the ground and first floors and called Tippy to provide him something to eat. "Thick sandwiches would do," he suggested. "Oh, and something to drink to go along with it."

He'd managed to get about three to five minutes of that into him when the wards alerted him to an incoming portkey.

Quickly abandoning his hasty lunch he moved to the rail overlooking the entry hall and drew his wand.

As the portkey began to arrive, he could see there was a good dozen people crowded around it, holding onto it.

Then, as soon as it stopped he called, "Greetings!"

Though somewhat expecting it, he was still surprised when his call was greeted with curses cast at him.

Magicked up, he ducked the three fired close or at him and began casting back. ' _Stun! Break! Stun! Stun! Pud-Trip! Stun!_ ' Aurors scattered and tried to find places to hide. Those who dared turn their backs to him were some of the first to go down. ' _Stun! Stun! Pud-Trip! Stun! Stun! Break! Stun! Break! Pud-Trip! Stun! Stun! Break! Pud-Trip! Stun! Break! Break! Pud-Trip! Break! Stun!_ ―'

"Cease fire!" barked Bones, after she'd managed to dive through the open door opposite the doors to the drawing room.

That had a couple of idiot aurors immediately drop their shields and begin to stand up.

' _Stun! Stun! Break! Stun! Break! Pud-Trip! Stun! Stun! Break! Stun! Break! Stun! Pud-Trip! Stun! Stun! Stun! Break! Stun! Break! Stun!_ '... "Fuck it!"

"I said, 'Cease fire!', _damn it_!" called Bones.

"Bit lay-aate," snarked Harry right back from the top of the stairs. He was already summoning wands off the floor to his hand.

Bones stuck her head out the door as Harry began to walk down the steps, still summoning wands.

"What the _Hell?!_ " she barked at him.

"Indeed," he snarked back. "I invited you here. I call 'Greetings!'. And three of your aurors immediately opened up on me. Care to explain that?"

"As far as we know we were going into a hostile situation," she snapped.

"And yet you didn't come in prepared?" he asked. "Why didn't you conjure metal shields you could strap to your off-hand forearms and don them before you portkeyed in? You know such shields will even block the killing curse, right?

"At the minimum, a Finite would have to hit it, dispelling it, before a follow-up curse could hit you.

"That would have given you at least a precious few seconds to set up to properly defend yourselves."

She looked back in shock. However, she still didn't come out from behind the door. At least she was smart enough to do that.

Harry had already summoned up all the wands before he reached the first stunned auror. And cast a Detect Polyjuice Potion charm on the person. The Davis ladies showed him it was a good idea. It glowed green, showing they didn't have Polyjuice in their system. Then he vanished the sleeve off their robe to see if he could spot the Dark Mark - no mark. He left them and moved on to the next.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Checking for Polyjuice and the Dark Mark. I'm not checking for glamours as I know that monocle of yours can detect them," he replied before checking the next. "How about you stay right where you are while I complete my... investigation."

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

'All good,' he thought.

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

No Polyjuice... _Dark Mark_.

"Oh, we have a winner!" called Harry. "One Dark Marked Auror."

" _Wwwhat?!_ " exclaimed Bones.

"An Auror with the Dark Mark," he replied, conjuring a hard-backed wooden chair with armrests. "I would have thought regular, but unscheduled, checking of your aurors, let alone the rest of the Ministry personnel, for the Dark Mark would have been _de rigueur_."

He levitated the auror up and into the chair, before using an overpowered Incarcerous charm to tie them in place. He also made sure the man's Marked forearm was bare and clearly displaying the Mark.

'Next,' he thought.

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

" _Polyjuice!_ " he called, when the auror glowed red.

Another chair, another vanished sleeve, another levitation and another over-powered Incarcerous later and the second auror was now sitting tied up in a chair next to the first. That one had no Dark Mark, but he thought that could be due to the Polyjuice.

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

No Polyjuice, no Dark Mark.

No Polyjuice, _Dark Mark_!

"Another Dark Mark," he called.

Another chair, another vanished sleeve, another levitation and another over-powered Incarcerous later and the third auror was now sitting tied up in a chair next to the first two.

As he worked through them, he carefully watched Bones to make sure she didn't try to stun him. She didn't. She just watched in, at first, horrified shock; before the shock morphed into anger.

" _Polyjuice!_ " he called, when the auror on the floor before him glowed red. It was Connie Hammer.

" _Morgana's saggy tits!_ " Bones exclaimed. " _HER?!_ "

"Yup," said Harry, still busy.

'Faux-Hammer' joined the other three. She was also the last.

Standing after he finished the last of them, leaving them all unconscious, he turned to Bones and said, "Alright, Minister. Your turn. How's about you come out of there and let me check you over. Once I've done you, if it makes you happy, you can do me."

Bones gave a frustrated grimace and seemed to think about it.

Harry just smirked and said, "You're here, under a Fidelius, I have control of the wards, I could even call for a house elf to stun your arse from behind if I wanted to. I've done none of that, have I?"

With a slight sigh of defeat, Bones came out from behind the door with her wand pointed down and away. She looked resigned to her fate.

Harry cast the Polyjuice Detection charm on her... which showed she wasn't someone under Polyjuice. "Sleeve up, please," he said.

Instead of sliding just one sleeve up, she slid _both_ up. Both arms were bare.

He lowered the wand and gave her a nod. "As far as I can tell... all clear."

"As far as you can tell?" she grumpily asked, sliding her sleeves back down.

"As far as I can tell," he firmly replied. "For all I know Riddle, or one of his masked minions, might have been able to design a new form of glamour or masking potion no one's seen before."

"In that case, can we wake the rest of my people back up now?" she asked.

" _You_ wake 'em," he said. "One at a time and make sure they don't try to immediately attack me. They can have their wands back once you've woken them all. I'm going to be back up on that landing."

"Wise," she muttered, raising her wand and casting the Enervate Charm on the one nearest her as Harry jogged back up the stairs to 'his' landing.

Once she had the remaining nine aurors all awake and it was explained what was going on, Harry came back down, handed Bones their wands and said, "So long as they know not to attack me again, you can give them their wands back, now."

"They won't!" she firmly said, glaring at the aurors first.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

First things first - because 'faux-Hammer' proved to not be Hammer - as minister, Bones reappointed herself as Director of the DMLE _pro tem_. It would be fixed... later.

Harry then told her about the folks trying to find some way in through the main gates since he took control of the wards. "I'd say they, whoever they are, are Death Eaters; as no one else would have cause to, let alone know the secret of, this place.

"How about you send a few of your aurors out there via a portkey... _with large metal shields strapped to their off-hand forearms_... to go and arrest them?"

She gave a nod and said, "I'll do that once I know this place is secure."

"Well then," he said. "How about you and me go into the drawing room, Riddle's supposed audience chamber, so you can see for yourself that certain individuals are dead?"

She gave a nod and Harry walked to the double doors of the drawing room. "Oh, and your aurors are free to search the rest of this place. I believe Madam Malfoy is upstairs in her suites. One of the Malfoy house elves told me that's where she was. She is also, according to one of the elves, unconscious. She reached that state, I believe, by being _beaten_ by her _oh_ -so-loving hubby."

Bones immediately spun and gestured to two of her female aurors. "You two, go check it out. Treat her as hostile until you know otherwise. All but you four, go search the rest of the property for more hostiles."

The two females gave a nod with muttered, 'Yes, Ma'ams' and took off up the stairs. The other aurors began to disperse.

Harry then turned back to the doors and opened them with a flourish.

Stepping out of the way, he said, "One scene of a terrible, _terrible_ accident. I hope you'll forgive me if I covered the bodies. I had to bring a couple of young female children through here to get them out."

Having already seen the prisoners after they arrived at the Ministry - all bar Griphook were already sent to St Mungo's under female auror guard - Bones only gave a nod and walked forward. She had four aurors follow her in.

Others were about to follow, but Harry glared at them and said, "I thought you were given orders to go and search the rest of this manor?"

That had the last few scowl, but leave in pairs to do that.

Bones had looked about and headed directly to the dais, side-stepping Nagini on the way, before not even pausing and yanking the sheet off Riddle's body.

She paused only a moment before running a quick scan over him before lowering her wand. "Well, he's dead."

"Yup," said Harry. "A piercing curse to the forehead will tend to render someone that."

Turning to Harry she asked, "You killed him?"

"Yup." he replied.

" _How?_ " she demanded.

"A piercing curse to forehead ring any bells?" he snarked.

A little frustrated, she asked, "No... I mean... how were you able to accomplish that?"

He smirked and, putting actions to words, "I raised my wand like this... then I cast the piercing curse... it hit him in―"

"Alright," she cut him off. "I get it. You killed him with a piercing curse to the forehead. What I want to know is... _how_ were you able to do that when he is... was... so bloody fast!"

"Simple," he replied. "I'm _faster_."

She just gave a huff of annoyance and shook her head.

"Riddle's fatal misconception," explained Harry, "Is that he believed he was both the most powerful and the fastest with a wand. As such, he did not conceive of the possibility there was someone out there who was faster than _himself_. There is... me."

She finally seemed to accept that before she gestured to the other shrouded bodies. "And them?"

"His entire Inner Circle, I'm led to believe."

"And how did they die?"

"First mistake, by making the fatal decision of kidnapping me and bringing me here. Second mistake, they then all stood in one big circle around me. Third mistake, they assumed they were safe because Big Bad Tommy Boy was here to protect them and they greatly outnumbered me." He smirked.

She looked around and said, "The dark lord and all thirteen Inner Circle members. And you defeated them all without a mark on you."

"Yup," he cheekily grinned. "I really am... _that fast_. Didn't I just show you an example of that, out in the entrance hall?"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The two female aurors came down and alerted Bones that they needed to get a Healer for Narcissa Malfoy. And Harry suggested they simply levitate her downstairs and portkey her to Saint Mungo's from the entrance hall. Bones went with that. Now that the aurors were here, Harry even removed the need for the key to the outgoing anti-portkey ward.

After identifying the rest of the bodies, Harry then showed her the hidden area below the floor and suggested she come back at another time to properly scour the place from top to bottom. Again, she went with that.

When they were ready to leave with their four prisoner aurors, Harry stopped them.

"First, you should send a team and take down the rest of your aurors to check them for Polyjuice, glamours and the Dark Mark. You don't want word to get out, just yet, that Riddle and his Inner Circle are dead," he explained. "You have a perfect opportunity here, Minister Bones. You have a day or two, _at most_ , to 'clean house' before the story that Riddle and his main masked minions are dead before people start screaming 'I was Imperiused'. I suggest you make use of it."

She looked at him in surprise and said, "What an excellent idea!"

"Oh," he said. "And, once you've cleaned house in the Auror department, can you _then_ send a team of combat aurors to the front gate here to round up the Death Eaters trying to get in? Plus, wait for any more to turn up and bag them too?"

"I can do that," she said.

"And, if Dumbledore shows up, bag him too, would you? You know _damned_ well the man is going to want to come in here and see for himself. You can tell him, from me, he can go fuck himself.

"I have cast _Prædātum_ on this manor. It now, effectively, belongs to me. And Dumbledore is not welcome... no matter what he tries to say or claim."

Surprised, she said, "You've claimed this property under the auspices of Spoils of War?"

"Yup."

"There are going to be many who won't like to learn that," she warned.

"I just killed their dark lord for them," he returned. "I should care... _why_?"

She gave a snort of amusement and quietly said, "Point taken."

After making her another portkey, this time a permanent one, that would allow her people to get back in through the wards and handing it to her, he said, "Well, I need to go. I have people worried about me and need to go let them yell at me for a while."

"Before you do..." she said. "How will I contact you? I've tried, in the past..."

"Contact Miss Luna Lovegood," he returned. "She can contact me quite quickly. She's one smart witch, that girl."

She gave a nod and said, "If I can cast it before the story breaks, I want to talk to you again. You realise you've just earned an Order of Merlin, First Class, don't you?"

"Meh!" he shrugged. "If it makes you happy I accept one, I _may_ do so. I just trust you to make sure no one tries to shove my arse in Azkaban for killing so many... fine and upstanding citizens, if you get my drift."

"They wouldn't bloody dare!" she scowled.

"Wanna bet?" he grinned back. "Dumbledore will be leading the charge. You'll see."

She just shook her head and seemed to come up with an idea. "Those cells, downstairs..."

Harry grinned and fished the key ring out of his pocket before handing it to her. "Seems like poetic justice to store your prisoners in them while you clean house."

She smirked back and said, "My thoughts, exactly."

"You're welcome to them," he said. " _Anywho!_ I _really_ need to shoot through. You have the run of the place, with my blessings."

Without waiting for her to respond, he suddenly apparated away.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Appearing in the apparation point in Diagon Alley, Harry was quickly through the arch and into the Leaky. Then went directly to the floo and flooed to Grimmauld.

Stepping out, he sang, " _Honey! I'm ho-ome!_ "

Already in the room Sirius spun and barked, " _Where, the bloody hell, have you been?_ "

Luna was already off the couch and hurried over to him to wrap him in a tight hug. She'd not said a word.

"Killing dark lords and answering questions of Minister Bones and the aurors," he replied, hugging Luna.

"It's true?" asked a shocked Sirius. "He's dead?"

"Yup," replied Harry. "So's Lucy Malfoy, 'Ferret' Draco, 'Snivelly' Snape and others I didn't recognise. However―"

"Wait!" exclaimed Sirius. "Snivellus is dead?"

"Yup!" he replied. "He was, apparently, still one of Riddle's latest Inner Circle."

Sirius nodded and began to relax a little. "Remus is going to be very pleased to hear that. That he's dead, I mean."

"I understood what you meant," he replied. "However, I've convinced Madam Bones to keep the fact that Riddle and his so-called Inner Circle is dead under wraps until she can clean up. So... there's no going out and about and letting people know, alright?"

"Didn't plan to!" said Sirius.

"Neither did I," said Luna. "Then again, people tend not to believe me, anyway."

Harry sadly nodded back. He well remembered people rarely, if ever, accepted that what Luna told them was the truth.

"Oh!" he said, suddenly remembering. "I claimed the so-called Malfoy Manor, as Heir Black, under the auspices of Spoils of War for the House of Black. It's now yours."

"Yes, Dobby― Wait. How were you able to tell― You knew the Secret, right?" said Sirius.

"Yes. I was shown a slip of parchment with the Secret written on it before Malfoy took me there," he replied. "Why?"

"If the Secret Keeper was He-Who or one of his Inner Circle... and you've killed them all... that means you're now a Secret Keeper to the Fidelius," explained Sirius. "That's why you could mention Malfoy Manor."

Surprised, Harry said, "I didn't know that. _Hunh!_ "

"Oh, yes!" he said. "As far as anyone is to know, I did not go there _willingly_. I was kidnapped and taken there against my will."

Sirius frowned and quietly asked, "Oh?"

"Well, I just killed over a dozen 'fine and upstanding citizens', didn't I?" he asked. "If it was discovered I was _willingly_ taken there... then someone is going to come up with the bright idea I _murdered_ all those people.

"By being _kidnapped_ and taken there―"

"Then you were just exercising your legal right of trying to escape from a deadly situation; therefore, it's self defence," nodded Sirius. "Clever."

"And no one, but us three, knows any different," said Luna. "Except for the house elves; and no one asks them, anyway."

"That's because a house elf can be ordered by their Master or Mistress to lie," Sirius explained.

"Next point," said Harry. "Madam Bones has again confirmed for me she's tried to contact me in the past and hasn't been able to. I've just told her she can contact me via Luna."

"Was that wise?" asked Sirius.

"She needed some way to do so and I'm not yet prepared to let anyone, but us three and Remus and Tonks, know I'm Harry Potter."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	14. The Announcement

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Fourteen - The Announcement**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Before she even left the manor, Bones had her aurors briefed on what they needed to do as soon as they arrived. "I do not _care_ if you believe them to be friends and or comrades-in-arms," she firmly stated. "There are now four... _four_... we believed to be such downstairs in those sets of cells. That's four out of fourteen that accompanied us. That's over a _quarter_ of those who accompanied us here not being who we thought they were.

" _Everyone_ is to be immediately stunned. There is to be nothing of any, 'I'm sorry about this'... or 'I'm afraid I'm going to have to stun you'... or any of that _nonsense!_ As soon as you spot them, _stun them_. Got that?"

"Yes, Ma'am," was chorused back to her.

"These _bastards_ have been using Polyjuice to take the places of our friends and comrades. And, in some cases... as we discovered with John Peters and Adrian Wilkes now downstairs... they're not our friends, after all.

"Lord Peverell suggested we conjure metal shields strapped to our off arms when we portkey in to a hot zone. Well... we're going to do that going back to the DMLE. The offices of the DMLE, until we clear it out, is currently considered a hot zone.

"We'll also be using the shields as a way to identify each other as someone who's already been checked. So, everyone conjure one up now."

Putting deed to word Bones was the first to do precisely that. It added a little bit of weight, but that was soon sorted with an additional featherweight charm and well worth it for the obvious, though possibly short, protection it would be. She also wondered why none of them had thought of it before, as it made perfect sense.

Once her aurors were all bearing a shield she conjured a large soft hoop of rope, enough for them all to grab hold, and said, "Right! Let's go do this!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As soon as they arrived in the portkey point at the DMLE, Bones and the aurors quickly got to work.

The two aurors already in the portkey point were quickly stunned, de-wanded and bound; as the rest deliberately, but carefully, made there way through the offices and cubicles. Another two went to the doors out of the DMLE offices, locked them and then _magically_ locked them. They wanted no one in or out until they were done.

Only one tried to fight back, but their decidedly dark curse was fended off by a shield before they were quickly taken down and bound.

Within five minutes all the aurors were either carrying a shield or were down unconscious and bound. That included the ones on guard duty in the cells area.

"Right!" said Bones, once it was apparent they'd succeeded. "Bring them all up to the front of the bullpen area and we'll go through them one at a time. Someone stay on the main doors and make sure no one comes in until we're done."

"Ma'am," nodded on of the Seniors, before he grabbed a lower rank and headed for the doors.

It didn't take long. By the time they were done they had two more found under Polyjuice and one more with the Dark Mark. Bones had been cursing up a storm under her breath the whole time. The Chief Auror was found to be another Marked Death Eater.

With the last one checked, she barked, "Right. Strip those three down and put them in cells. Once that's done... Proudfoot!"

"Ma'am?" asked a solid, swarthy-skinned man.

"You're currently Chief Auror. Once those three are in cells, take the portkey Peverell left with me and take eight aurors back to that manor. Bring those four back here."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Don't forget to manacle them before you do."

"No, Ma'am," he replied. "I'll get 'er done."

With a firm nod back she continued, "Once they're back, I want one of the Masters to start summoning the off-duty aurors in, one at a time. While we've discovered this lot, I'm horrified to think about how many there are that are currently off-duty."

When she saw they'd heard that, she said, "By the way: That _He_ and his Inner Circle are now dead... is a DMLE high secret. Anyone... and I _do_ mean anyone... who is thinking about making a few galleons on the side by selling or giving that information to anyone, including the media, outside the department... well, you _will_ be going to Azkaban; even if I have to take you there, myself! _No excuses_!

"Yes, Ma'am," was chorused back.

"Even if I have to Veritaserum your arses myself, I _will_ learn who was responsible... one way or another."

Again, she got a chorus of, "Yes, Ma'am"s.

"Let's get it done!" she snapped out.

Aurors _moved_.

The one thing the already years long undeclared civil war had caused, even if it was not legally recognised as a war, was that the aurors all knew that what they were told was a secret was to be _kept_ a secret. At least, they thought they did... until they'd just learned just how badly they'd been infiltrated by the enemy.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At Grimmauld, Sirius had called in Remus and Tonks, but only Remus could turn up.

"Tonks got called into the DMLE," he explained.

Once Moony was sat down with a drink, Harry then spent what felt like twice as long as his 'adventure' took to tell of it. However, part of that was the oft interruptions by either Sirius or Remus to clarify something or rant at him about something else.

Once he was done, Luna stood and walked to Harry. Latching onto his arm as she dragged him out of his seat, she said, "Right! You've got your answers... At least, what you're going to get of what Harry had to say... For the next hour or so he's _mine_. _No interruptions!_ "

Then she firmly dragged a now blushing Harry out of the room and up the stairs.

Remus watched them go, waited a few moments to hear the bedroom door slam closed and laughed. He was joined by Sirius.

"Damn, Pads!" he eventually chortled. "Was Luna _deliberately_ impersonating Lily, or was that _all_ her?"

"Who knows?" chuckled Sirius. "With Luna, I don't think even _she_ knows."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It took Bones almost the entire rest of the day to clear her aurors of whether or not they had the Dark Mark, were under Polyjuice or under a simple glamour. One of those captured was the auror using Polyjuice to be the auror Harry freed from the cells at ex-Malfoy Manor. He was one who was on Bones's protection detail but was, luckily, currently off-duty.

Another first called in was Tonks. However, she'd managed to take three aurors down with stunners before she was dropped with a stunner in the back from the doorway.

"Bloody hell!" said Master Auror Thompkins, the one who'd dropped her. "How, the bloody hell, did she suddenly get so _fast_?"

She, of course, was cleared. When later questioned by Bones as to how her casting speed had significantly increased, she claimed she'd been hiding it so the enemy wouldn't learn of it. For now, it was accepted.

Bones, though, had a fair idea as to the truth, but wouldn't push it. She didn't want to learn something she knew she'd have to negatively act upon if she was right. The same applied to what she knew of the young woman's sex life; and that it was 'suspected' she was dating a werewolf.

Once the aurors were all checked it was found that they had nine under Polyjuice and six with the Dark Mark. Using some, never-to-be-admitted, heavy-handedness with the new prisoners they discovered where all those other eight who were being Polyjuiced were being kept. Someone using Polyjuice could only use such if the Polyjuiced one was still alive and otherwise unharmed.

A rescue mission was immediately organised, with a team of twelve aurors headed directly there to free their comrades. It was at a somewhat-secret hideaway owned by the Nott family. Thankfully, it was both not under the Fidelius, nor were there lethal wards on the property.

The one who was the most 'put out' was Connie Hammer. Once she realised she'd been found and released, one of the Senior Aurors in the rescue detail had to pull her off one of the now-Incarceroused 'guards' from where she was currently in the process of killing him with her bare hands. Apparently, he'd raped her and she was most determined to get her pound of flesh out of him before she'd happily see him kissed by a dementor. Two of the other aurors, both females, had to be escorted immediately to Saint Mungo's for treatment. Both were also the victims of rape and both were in a bad way.

By rights, Hammer should have also gone directly to Saint Mungo's. However, she _ordered_ the one trying to force her to go to take her back to the DMLE. She had the names of a great many Death Eaters and was determined to see the lot of them arrested and brought to justice. When told she should be taken direct to Saint Mungo's, she declared, "I'll go once I know effort has already begun to see those _bastards_ brought in!"

With the return of the missing aurors Bones, still acting as Director of the DMLE, began sending out teams to hunt down and arrest those named by the kidnapped aurors; at least, those not already dead at Peverell's hand.

After Hammer gave her report of what she'd been through and the names of those she recognised who were part of it or raped her or the other two female aurors, Bones explained to her what had happened at Malfoy manor.

"They're dead?" the clearly haunted woman asked.

"They are," Bones firmly returned. "The entire Inner Circle, plus Voldemort himself."

Hammer sat there, staring back for a few moments and looking a little lost, before she suddenly collapsed in on herself and began bawling her eyes out.

Bones immediately called in Tonks, who was waiting outside, and ordered, "Director Hammer goes to Saint Mungo's, right now. No arguments. Those are my orders and Director Hammer does _not_ get to overrule them. Stun her if you must."

"Yes, boss," said Tonks, before she stepped forward and helped Hammer out of her seat. "Come on, boss. Let's go get you some help."

"Those... _bastards_ ," sobbed the woman, latching onto Tonks once she was on her feet again.

As Tonks helped the woman out of her own office. Bones, sitting at Hammer's desk which was once before her own, sighed and thought, 'We're not going to get past this that quickly. The DE's didn't use Polyjuice in the first war.'

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Harry and Luna came back downstairs because it was getting on to dinner time, Sirius said, "Moony received a couple of messenger Patronuses from Tonks. According to her, Bones is on a tear. She found a total of six aurors who had the Dark Mark and nine who were actually Polyjuiced Death Eaters. One of those was the auror you rescued from that manor.

"A team of a dozen went to where they found out the other eight were being kept for the Polyjuicing and rescued them. Three, all witches, had to be taken to Saint Mungo's for rape trauma... including Connie Hammer."

Harry winced.

Moony added, "Tonks doesn't expect to come home tonight until the early hours of the morning, if at all. Bones is using the time before it becomes public you killed old Snake Face to round up every Death Eater they can lay their hands on. And, the more they capture, the more names they get.

"The only ones they can't go after yet are the ones in the big manors with the powerful wards. However, thankfully, most of those were also counted among Riddle's Inner Circle, so you've already dealt with them. There's still a couple who weren't part of the Inner Circle, though. Those ones, they're going to try and 'trick' out of their homes, first."

Harry nodded, "That's a clever idea. I hope it works for them."

"It should for most of them," smirked Sirius. "You'd be surprised just how gullible some of those idiots are.

"Hell, if they weren't so stupid they'd have probably been _in_ the Inner Circle. That they're not, with their money, kind of proves they _are_ that stupid."

"Either that or they simply weren't trusted enough," said Harry. "Don't let the fact they're not in the Inner Circle when they have buckets of galleons lead you to believe they're stupid. It's just one explanation, but not the only one."

Sirius nodded back, accepting the reasoning.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry and Luna were early to bed, but not early to sleep, that night. However, Harry was still up early the next morning. It was just the way he was.

He managed to catch Tonks, who had apparently stayed the night, just before she left via floo to go to work. Even first thing in the morning she didn't look like she'd managed to sleep. He said so.

"Oh, I slept," she replied. "I just didn't get in until after midnight and I need to get back to work early this morning. I got about... six hours, I think."

"Barely enough," he said. "The body can survive on that much, but not if you have an active lifestyle, which you do. Your minimum should be seven to eight. See if you can organise it to get you at least eight hours tonight.

"A lack of sleep will slow your reaction time, your ability to reason and dull your awareness. It can get you dead, Tonks. Calculate for that, won't you?"

She sighed and said, "That depends on getting everything accomplished Madam Bones wants accomplished today. The round-up of all the Death Eaters is still going on and there's no end in sight, yet."

"Tell her to make sure she makes it a priority to bring in all the ones who have sufficient galleons to bribe their way out of going to Azkaban," he suggested. "Get them behind bars and there'll be less chance of anyone being able to get into Gringotts to withdraw bribe money for them and anyone else."

She looked back at him for a moment before she said, "That's a damn fine idea, Harry."

She was about to leave when she asked, "Harry? You and Luna..."

"Is nobody's business, but our own," he firmly returned.

"I... sorry, but I don't want to see her hurt. She's a sweet kid, ya know?"

"She's a young _woman_ , Tonks," he said. "She's not just over the age of consent, she's _of-age_."

"I know, but..."

"But you care," he nodded. "I understand. However, you need to understand I did not seduce her. _She_ came on to _me_." He gave a snort and said, "She just came into my room when I was in bed, stripped off and hopped in. She knows what she's doing."

Tonks nodded back and said, "Thank you for assuring me."

He just gave a shrug back and she was gone less than a minute later.

Luna came in only a few minutes later and asked, "Tonks give you, what the muggles call, 'the third degree'?"

Harry sheepishly nodded. "Yeah. She wanted to make sure I wasn't taking advantage of you."

She gave a snort and asked, "And when's she going to ask _me_ if _I'm_ taking advantage of _you_?"

"I don't think she cares if you are or not," he grinned. "Personally, I think she'd be more... 'You go, girl!'"

Luna snickered in response as Dobby put a plate of breakfast before her.

"So," he said. "Whatever shall we do today?"

She looked up and smirked. "You're not taking me back up to our room and having sex with me so much I end up walking bow-legged, Harry."

He looked at her in shock, which had her snicker again.

"How about you take me out to see some of the muggle sights, instead?" she suggested. "We could go to a theme park. I heard some muggle-borns say they're a wonderful way to spend a day."

Harry thought about and it and said, "Well, I'll have to find out which ones are open. It's not the season for it, this close to winter. However, I'll see what I can find out."

"Well, if it's not the season, as you put it, for amusement parks," she said. "How about going to see some of the sights. Is Buckingham castle open this time of year?"

"It's Buckingham _Palace_ and I don't know if we can tour it or not, as it's Her Majesty's primary residence in London," he explained. "I do know we can go and visit some of the other important landmarks, though. We should probably take the bus tour."

"Sounds like fun!" she grinned.

"Right then," he said. "I think the first place we need to find is a souvenir shop."

"We need souvenirs?" she asked.

"Nope," he replied. "At a souvenir shop we should be able to find information on all the 'touristy' things to do; including, how to find and board the tour buses that run around London and other places. Besides, it's a good place to find out what else we can do that tourists often do."

"So, we're going to be tourists?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied. "Sound like fun?"

She grinned back. "It does."

"Well, finish your breakfast, we'll let it settle for a while and then we'll head out," he said. "We'll go out via the floo to the Leaky and on into Muggle London. We shouldn't have to go far north before we find a souvenir shop."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Over at the DMLE, the 'skeleton crew' of aurors who had been up all night had just finished handover to the incoming otherwise full complement of aurors, who already knew they were going to be busy. The only aurors not active for the day were those going off due to being up and active all night and those aurors who were unavailable due to being sick, injured or otherwise out of the country on vacations and the like. Aurors who should have been on a 'down' day had already been recalled and would be working that day.

Overnight, most of the skeleton crew had been on stake-outs at various properties around the country, including at ex-Malfoy manor. Those skeleton crews had also managed to capture over a dozen Death Eaters, due to the Death Eaters concerned doing something stupid.

One idea that worked was to floo the home of a target and ask them to come in to the DMLE 'due to someone there desperately asking for them' - they got three that way. Another was to visit the two pubs in Knockturn in disguise - they got four that way. And another was to simply walk up to the door of the property and knock on the door - they got another four that way. The last few they picked up simply by visiting the pubs at places like Godric's Hollow and Hogsmeade.

Due to the sheer number of arrests already effected, together with the number they knew they had yet to do, the unused expanded section of the cells and interview rooms of the DMLE were opened and quickly readied. This expanded their capacity by triple. However, even then they knew they would have to double-up on each cell by adding a second bunk in each.

Of course, this also meant the number of guards for the cell blocks would also have to be expanded, as would the interviewers, as would the medical staff. However, those were all considered minor problems that could be dealt with as they arose.

For now, they had arrests to effect.

The planning for that massive operation was spearheaded by Bones with three of the Master Aurors. Even retired Master Auror Alistair 'Mad-Eye' Moody was brought in for it... after he first swore a magical vow not to release any of the information concerning the arrests to anyone not an active member of the DMLE until Bones made it public. Surprisingly, especially for Bones, he was happy to do so.

His reason why? "I'm sick of Dumbledore's lies," he grumbled in reply.

At 9.30am the plan activated.

After first shutting down the internal floo system with the public announcement a major problem had been detected and it needed to be brought down to effect repairs - together with the parchment aeroplane and owl mail systems also brought down, but without explanation - teams of three aurors each spread throughout the Ministry. Their targets were each individual office and department with the intent of checking them for Polyjuice, glamours and the Dark Mark.

As when Bones took 'her' aurors back to the DMLE from the ex-Malfoy manor they stunned first, checked, revived when the person was considered not a probable DE; and magically strip-searched, manacled and taken back to the DMLE when discovered otherwise. Over two dozen where arrested from within the Ministry within the first two hours, mainly in positions of at least some authority. Three were Directors of Departments, over half a dozen were Heads of Offices, many more were senior clerks or Deputy Heads.

All of them ended up in cells; all while Bones was practically cussing up a storm. She managed to break four items in the DMLE Director's office with accidental magic, one being an expensive bottle of Hammer's cognac she'd have to replace.

With the Ministry cleared - they hoped - the other teams of four sent out to collect 'at home' DEs were also having successes and started bringing in who they captured. And the site that was having the most success was the one outside the gates of the ex-Malfoy manor, which is where Harry had keyed the wards of the manor to 'bounce' anyone trying to use a portkey to get into the property that he hadn't personally made. They'd even had to call for back-up, due to the high number of Death Eaters who were turning up there.

The aurors soon had it figured out by questioning their fresh detainees that many of the Death Eaters had emergency portkeys made by Riddle that would take them from where they were to the emergency portkey arrival point in the manor dining room. Apparently, that dining room was easily converted to a 'makeshift' infirmary, as needed, with Snape's and his assistants' potions laboratory in the breakfast room just next door; which acted as a buffer between the kitchen and the dining room. After all, it would 'not do' for guests sitting down to a dinner in the Malfoy dining room to have to put up with noise coming directly from the kitchen, so the breakfast room was nominally a buffer and now used as the potions lab.

With Harry setting the manor wards to refuse any portkeys but those which he made, almost every time a DE tried to escape the aurors who were 'breaking the doors down' at their homes by activating their emergency portkeys, they turned up by bounced portkey at the main gates. And, there, the 'temporarily encamped' aurors would quickly have them subdued, magically strip searched, manacled and 'auror prisoner' portkeyed to the DMLE cell's portkey area.

Then they'd 'reset' and wait for the next one or two. That is, of course, when they weren't chuckling away in amusement at the shocked looks on the faces of their new detainees when they didn't arrive in the manor.

Others that would turn up at the gates were Death Eaters arriving by apparation. They'd pop in and hurry to the gate, only to be brought down by a couple of well-aimed stunners from two different directions to the midsection. These, too, would quickly be magically strip-searched, manacled and auror-portkeyed to the DMLE.

The aurors at the gate felt that, by five pm that evening, they'd caught another over three dozen of the bastards. They had; thirty nine.

So many were caught that day that Bones had to beg for help from the Unspeakables. Croaker, the lead Unspeakable, turned up, saw what the problem was and said his people would handle it.

Half an hour later, the 'already interviewed' Death Eaters were magically transported by Unspeakable portkeys down to the Department of Mysteries. This freed up room in the cells of the DMLE for the still-coming-in.

It gave the aurors some breathing room to effect more interviews, which they carried out with near-calm efficiency and speed.

Every DE captured was fed Veritaserum with the first question asked, 'Are you a true pure-blood?' If the answer was 'Yes', they were fed the antidote and taken back to their cells. However, if the answer was 'No', they were _hammered_ with questions.

Bones did not yet have the authority to question any 'pure-blood' with the powerful truth serum, but did have the authority to hit them with a cheering charm and added powerful compulsion charms to answer questions truthfully. It was something they'd worked out early in the war somewhat worked, but had kept secret and not used until the 'perfect' opportunity presented itself. That opportunity was now; or would be once they'd questioned the half-bloods, of which there was quite a few, of every scrap of useful information they could get out of them.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry and Luna's day out in muggle London was deemed by both to be a huge success. They'd managed to visit the Tower of London - a place, a hell of a lot bigger than Harry had thought it was - and quietly and surreptitiously talked to some of the ghosts there. They'd visited the Royal Guard's barracks and watched the Trooping of the Colours and Changing of the Guard, amongst others. And took time out to go to the new Millennium Wheel, which had only a few days earlier finished being raised upright. Luna, especially, was amazed the muggles were able to accomplish such a feat.

After their day out they returned to Grimmauld Place just in time for dinner; which is what they'd planned. And then proceeded to tell Sirius and Remus about their day.

"So," asked Harry, once he and Luna finished their tale of their day of adventure, "Still no sign of Tonks?"

"Not yet," said Remus. "I received a messenger Patronus from her about an hour and a half ago, though. She believes she's got a few hours yet before she can leave."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was that early evening the story of 'You-Know-Who's' defeat, and how it occurred, broke.

Florean Fortescue had managed to talk his way out of Saint Mungo's and, as he was actually in not bad shape when he was brought in, the Healers had him healed up well before the previous evening.

He claimed he was not under arrest and was free to go. If he wasn't released he would claim unfair imprisonment and, even if his 'prison' was a private ward at Saint Mungo's, go see his law-wizard to start legal proceedings as soon as he _was_ released. Saint Mungo's management knew the man had a point, but delayed it long enough to summon Bones to come and talk to him.

Bones arrived and pleaded with him to give her just one more day. However, he claimed his business had suffered enough and, "Besides, my wife must think I'm _dead_! I need to go home, so she can see for herself I'm alright."

"We can quietly inform her," she suggested.

He just gave a snort and said, "The wife would immediately spread it around, no matter what you say to her. Therefore, you may as well release me now."

With a sigh, she said, "I'll get you home. However, can you make sure no one, bar you and your wife, learn of what's happened until tomorrow morning at the earliest?"

"No," he firmly replied. "I go home... right now and unencumbered by any sort of charm, oath or vow... or I sue your arses for illegal incarceration. Yours, the Ministry at-large and the management of Saint Mungo's."

With a sigh and slump of defeat she said, "No oaths, vows, charms or even potions. We wouldn't do that. Just... _please_... try to keep matters under wraps for as _long_ as possible. The DMLE aurors are, as quickly as possible, rounding up every Death Eater they can capture. The later the news breaks, the more we'll capture. You'll be doing a great service to your country, if you do."

He frowned and thought about it for a few moments. Finally, he said, "I'll be opening my store at 8.00am tomorrow morning. That gives you tonight to officially release it to the media, who will then print it for tomorrow morning's _Daily Prophet_. At 8.00am, though, I open my store and will tell one and all that Lord Hardwin Peverell rescued me and others, after first killing 'You-Know-Who' and about a dozen Death Eaters. However, I will not release the identity of those others also rescued... to protect _them_... until you or they do."

"Thank you, for that much at least," she replied.

Apparently, Fortescue had gone home via floo and immediately greeted his wife. She only waited until just after 8.00pm before she'd decided it was enough and began to immediately contact their wider family and friends.

Within fifteen minutes the media had hints of it and within ten minutes of that, had enough to confront Bones about it.

She 'doorstop interviewed' it by way of an announcement from her outer office at 9.00pm sharp. She could have done it in the DMLE, but didn't want the journalists anywhere near that Department for the time being. Besides their getting in the way, she didn't want them aware of just who was being arrested and brought in until she'd gotten as many as possible into cells.

Before she left the DMLE, though, she temporarily appointed Master Auror Proudfoot as Acting Director and left him to it. It was his responsibility, then, to find another Acting Chief Auror to replace _him_ as Acting Chief Auror. That's why Proudfoot jumped two spots. Bones had also told him that she'd be recommending him for the post of Chief Auror, the Head of the Aurors, once matters had settled again.

She also hoped Hammer would recover enough to return to the post of Director of the DMLE _and_ not bitch about Proudfoot getting the Chief Auror slot.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

By the time Tonks got to Grimmauld, Luna and Harry had already gone to bed. It was after 9.00pm and both felt they'd had a pretty full day.

As soon as she turned up she said to Remus and Sirius, who were still up, that the story had broken over half a hour earlier and they should turn on the wizarding wireless if they wanted to hear what the WWW reported of the announcement. Sirius immediately pulled the wireless out and turned it on.

 _"― tuning in,_ _ _less than half an hour ago_ Minister Bones announced that You-Know-Who, the dark lord, is dead... along with his entire supposed Inner Circle._

 _"We do not have the list of names, yet, but are assured it will be released once all their loved ones are first formally notified._

 _"Apparently, You-Know-Who and his Inner Circle were killed in self-defence by Lord Hardwin Peverell. Lord Hardwin Peverell, as the story goes, was kidnapped by You-Know-Who's forces and brought before the dark lord and his Inner Circle._

 _"Somehow... and we've not been told how yet... Lord Peverell was able to handily defeat them all and escape. In effecting his escape he was also able to rescue over half a dozen people who had also been kidnapped by You-Know-Who's forces and were in the same place at the time._

 _"Minister Bones informs us she will be recommending to an Emergency sitting of the Wizengamot, scheduled for tomorrow morning, Lord Peverell for the Order of Merlin, First Class._

 _"For those who don't know; anyone who defeats a dark lord is, by International law set down by the ICW, to be awarded such an honour. We cannot see the Wizengamot going against this law._

 _"As news continues to come in we will, of course, pass it on to you... our loyal listeners._

 _"In further news, we have learned that one of those who Lord Peverell rescued is none other than your beloved Florean Fortescue of Fortescue's Ice Creamery in Diagon Alley..."_

Sirius had reached over and turned the volume down.

"Order of Merlin, First Class, eh?" he smirked. "Harry's not going to like that."

About ten minutes later two owls flew in. One was for Sirius while the other was marked for Lord Peverell care of Ms Luna Lovegood.

Sirius released both owls of their loads and said, "I'd best go disturb Harry and Luna."

Then put deed to word by rising and heading for the stairs.

"Best knock _loud_ , Padfoot!" called Remus, smirking. "They're very likely to have silencing charms up."

Sirius hesitated just a moment before he snarked back, "No kidding!"

Tonks called, "You might want to try a messenger Patronus instead, Sirius."

Coming to a sudden stop, Sirius whirled about and said, "You know what? That's a good idea." And grinned.

Standing there, he cast his Patronus, a grimm, and flicked the voice message into it. It quickly passed him as it flew upwards into the air and through the wall.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry and Luna were in a position on their bed where Luna was face down, head down, while Harry was face up, head up in the opposite direction - commonly referred to by a double digit number - when the Patronus galloped in from the base of the wall. It hesitated only a jot before Sirius's ethereal voice issued forth from its mouth. " _Time to stop shagging like puffskeins, you two. You need to come downstairs._ "

"Oh, for..." said Harry, trying to get Luna off him.

She didn't want to move, though. And _showed_ she didn't by what she immediately did with her mouth.

"Oh, God!" said Harry, feeling it. He then had to tap her on the cheek to get her to stop. That it wasn't the cheek on her face was beside the point.

When she lifted a little he said, "Come on, Luna. They wouldn't have disturbed us unless it was important."

With a whine of annoyance, Luna rolled off him and then off the bed. Standing next to it in all her glory and with her hands on her hips, she demanded, "Where's my wand? Black's getting a hexing!"

Harry was already rolling out of bed himself on the other side and still chuckled at the clear annoyance in his girlfriend's voice.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After coming downstairs and with Luna first threatening Sirius, the two joined the other adults to listen to the wireless. Sirius had just waved the threat off, clearly distracted. It didn't take long for the message given earlier to be replayed, so the two still-teens could hear it.

" _Damn!_ " sighed Harry. "She'd already warned me about the Order of Merlin, but I was going to try to come up with a way to refuse it. I guess I can't, huh?"

"You killed Snake Face," said Tonks. " _You_... being able to refuse it... was never going to happen."

"I was hoping to get away with being Lord Hardwin Peverell for quite some time yet," grumped Harry.

"You still can―" started Remus. "No. Wait. You really can't, can you? The magic of the Order will require your true name be used."

"Yeah," sighed Harry.

"You'll need to talk to her, Pup," said Sirius. "This can't come at her cold. She needs to be warned."

"Yeah, she does," he sadly returned.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At Longbottom Manor near Lowestoft on the east coast, Neville Longbottom had been engaged in his own 'night-time manoeuvres' with his true girlfriend, Hannah Abbott, in his Lord's quarters when the announcement was made. Though they hadn't been listening to the wizarding wireless, they had it on in the background. It was the announcement 'You-Know-Who' was dead that had them suddenly pull apart and turn the radio up.

 _"― Somehow... and we've not been told how yet... Lord Peverell was able to handily defeat them all and escape. In effecting his escape he was also able to rescue over half a dozen people, who had also been kidnapped by You-Know-Who's forces and were in the same place at the time._

 _"Minister Bones informs us she will be recommending to an Emergency sitting of the Wizengamot, scheduled for tomorrow morning, Lord Peverell for the Order of Merlin, First Class._

 _"For those who don't know, anyone who defeats a dark lord is, by International law set down by the ICW, to be awarded such an honour. We cannot see the Wizengamot going against this law._

 _"As news continues to come in we will, of course, pass it on..._

"Sweet Merlin, Neville," exclaimed Hannah. "You were right!"

Jumping up and out of bed, as he reached for his robes to hastily pull them on, Longbottom said, "I _have_ to tell Gran. You might want to get up as we're probably going to be up for a while."

With a sigh, Abbott didn't even bother to argue. She knew her soon-to-be betrothed, while also a Lord, would want to keep his grandmother apprised of such a development as soon as it happened.

He would call it a need to keep his Proxy informed in case it changed matters before the Wizengamot - which this surely would - while she knew it was a hold-over from the way he was raised by the woman.

She climbed out of bed and hadn't even managed to reach for her robes before Longbottom was out the door and hurrying up the hallway to his grandmother's suite in the opposite wing.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In bed in his Headmaster's suite above the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was startled awake by an overcharged ethereal voice of his Deputy, McGonagall, carried to him by a messenger Patronus.

" _Albus!_ Wake up! _Come down to your office! There's important news on the wireless!_ "

Thinking it was another attack by Tom's forces, Dumbledore was quick to rise and just pull on a wizard's house coat over his night-robes. That the two colour schemes so horribly clashed didn't bother him as it usually would. Needs must, and all that.

Slipping his bed-slippers on he scooped up his wand and hurried down the stairs.

"Minerva?" he demanded, immediately spotting her standing in the middle of the floor. "What's going on? Who was attacked?"

"No one, Albus," she grinned. "It's over!"

Puzzled, he asked, "The attack is already over?" He was heading for his floo to call the Order together.

"No," she replied. "Voldemort is dead! According to the wizarding wireless, Lord Peverell killed him!"

In shock, Dumbledore pulled up short just before reaching the fireplace. It was a moment, as he whirled to face his deputy, before his face changed to a scowl and he firmly stated, "That's impossible. It is young _Neville's_ responsibility to kill Tom.

"If this Peverell character has severely harmed Tom then Tom will be back. It's only a matter of time. We cannot accept that Tom is dead unless young Neville has killed him. The prophecy is _fixed_."

"Unless, of course, _Lord Peverell_ is the Chosen One and not Lord Longbottom as you elsewise _surmise_ ," she firmly returned. "Just as _Lord Longbottom_ suggested."

As he was moving at the time to turn his own wizarding wireless on, Dumbledore paused a moment to give a pointed look to his deputy before he finished reaching for the on switch. "Peverell is a dark wizard," he firmly stated. " _No_ dark wizard could possibly be the one to kill Tom. He'd be more likely to _join_ him than _oppose_ him.

"No, Minerva. I suspect it is a trick by the forces of the dark to draw the light out into the open so they can be killed."

With a scoff, McGonagall said, "It's been confirmed by Minister Bones herself, Albus. Listen to the wireless. Bones gave an interview only a little over an hour―"

She shut up when the wireless interrupted its soft music for an update of the news bulletin.

 _"We interrupt our musical selection of Celestina Warbeck's latest hits for a special news bulletin. If you are only just now tuning in, Minister Bones announced just over an hour ago that You-Know-Who, the dark lord, is dead... along with his entire supposed Inner Circle._

 _"We do not have the list of names, yet, but are assured it will be released once all their loved ones are first formally notified._

 _"Apparently, You-Know-Who and his Inner Circle were killed in self-defence by Lord Hardwin Peverell. Lord Hardwin Peverell, as the story goes, was kidnapped by You-Know-Who's forces and brought before the dark lord and his Inner Circle._

 _"In an announcement, live from her offices, Minister Bones had this to say..."_ The voice changed to what was clearly a recording of Amelia Bones. " _'Gentlewizards and witches, it is my supreme joy to announce that the dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort has been killed, along with... it seems... his entire Inner Circle.'"_

Then there was a moment of silence before there was a great hue of raised and excited voices, all shouting questions. That cut off and then Bones's voice began again. " _'Not that long ago one of our aurors, along with half a dozen other missing and believed dead beings, suddenly arrived by auror portkey in the DMLE portkey arrival point in the DMLE. They came bearing surprising news...'_ "

As the bulletin finished, Dumbledore continued to sit in his office chair, scowling more and more. When it finished, he firmly stated, "It's a definite trick. I don't know how Tom or his people managed to pull it off, but it's definitely a trick."

" _Unless_ , as Lord Longbottom suggested, Lord Peverell is the Chosen One," McGonagall reiterated. "You _still_ haven't made any effort to find out Lord Peverell's birthday, have you?"

Dumbledore scowled even harder back and rose, "I will not be _questioned_ on this, Minerva." He headed for his floo.

"I'm not _questioning_ you on it, Albus," she sighed. "I'm offering a different possibility."

Ignoring her, Dumbledore took a pinch of floo powder and dashed it into the fireplace, "Minister's Office, Ministry of Magic," he snapped.

As he was about to stick his head into the fireplace, the green flames of a successful connection winked out, back to red flames.

"Damn it!" he snapped.

Spinning about, he began heading for the stairs to his private apartments and snapped at McGonagall, "I need to go get dressed and personally go to the Ministry!"

"Have you _forgotten_ you're under house arrest, Albus?" she just as snidely snapped back.

Coming up short again and, as he had already passed her, he turned slightly to look over his shoulder and lowly said, "I'm sure... considering the nature of what has occurred... I will be forgiven for going directly to the Minister to talk about this."

Then promptly continued on his way up his stairs, ignoring her warning.

McGonagall, a little upset with the way the old man had just brushed her off, paused only a long moment before she conjured a messenger Patronus and sent it to the Aurors. She'd been ordered to report to the DMLE if Dumbledore breached his house arrest and sent the Patronus off to warn them he was about to do precisely that.

Dumbledore might be acting like an idiot, but she wouldn't be.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Dumbledore came back downstairs dressed in well-tailored muted-fuchsia-coloured robes with matching hat and wizarding slippers to head to his floo, McGonagall had already left again. He thought her returned to her own apartment, but she'd instead headed for Flitwick's, sending another three messenger Patronuses as she went.

One Patronus each went to each of the other three Heads of Houses. She called them to meet her in Flitwick's office, the most central of the four.

She already knew that, once the student body learned of the Dark Lord's death, there would be chaos in the corridors. And she wanted that nipped in bud before it could even start.

As she firmly strode along, she thought, 'It's a pity, but unsurprising, Albus didn't think of that.'

Tossing a pinch of floo powder into his fireplace, Dumbledore was gone a long moment later. He'd first tried to floo directly to the DMLE, only for the floo connection to block him. So he headed to the Ministry Atrium, instead.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Coming out of one of the floos in the Atrium the old man was somewhat surprised at the number of people there.

It seemed he wasn't the _only_ one who decided to head to the Ministry to see if they could get any further news faster than what was being released over the wireless. A number of aurors were stationed at the wand checkpoint to block people, who really had no right to be there anyway, from entering beyond. They even had the golden gates shut.

Dumbledore had to squeeze and bull his way through the crowd until he reached the front.

Once there, he demanded, "Let me through. Do you not know who I am?"

One of the Senior aurors standing as a second row of defence in case the crowd managed to get past the biggest, burliest aurors they could find to block the gates, came forward and said, "Let Dumbledore... and _only_ Dumbledore... through."

Though pleased he was allowed access, Dumbledore was still forced to squeeze his way through the barely partially opened gate, having to firmly jostle his way just to get that far, before he was beyond.

As soon as he was, he stood back up to his full height and adopted his 'noble elder statesman pose' and said, "Thank you, Auror."

The auror, a Senior who had then drawn a wand on him, declared, "Albus Dumbledore, for breaching the conditions of your house arrest, you're under arrest."

Dumbledore froze in shock.

The auror then reached out and plucked the old man's wand out of his belt and slipped it into his own pocket before Dumbledore even noticed it gone.

Stepping back, the Senior firmly ordered, "Manacle him!"

Another auror, already waiting, stepped forward with a readied pair of manacles and had the first one on the old man's nearest wrist before Dumbledore snapped enough out of his surprise to refuse.

"N-now _wait_ just―"

The Auror, a First Class, had the second cuff of the manacles on the old man's other wrist before Dumbledore even had a chance to finish voicing his displeasure. It did, however, shut the old man up.

As the First Class then stepped to one side of Dumbledore, the Senior stepped to the other. Both took an upper arm each and began to march the old man to the lifts.

"Now _see_ here!" said Dumbledore, trying to stop. The aurors simply took a tighter grip and continued to force him to walk to the lifts.

Dumbledore might appear sprightly for his age, but he was still an old man. He was no match for two fit young men who were aurors trained in arresting and taking into custody rowdy revelers and drunken brawlers.

Less than five minutes later, Dumbledore found himself in in-prisoner 'processing' before then being tossed into a single cell in the DMLE's holding cells.

"We're a bit busy at the moment," said the Senior. "You can wait there until we're free to deal with you."

Having the door then slammed shut in his face, Dumbledore heard the sliding home of the bolt and the turning of the key, locking him within.

He was still in somewhat shock at his treatment.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Proudfoot was in his office preparing the documentation for the first of the trials they'd very soon have to hold when the Senior knocked on his open door and stepped within.

"Dumbledore's in holding?" asked Proudfoot.

"Yes, Sir," said the Senior.

"Good," said Proudfoot. "Make sure you're very accurate on your parchmentwork for him. He's a slippery old bugger. I don't want him sliding out of his charges through a technicality in the parchmentwork.

"Also, pull out the parchmentwork Hammer... if it was actually her at the time... had caused written up that got him arrested in the first place. If necessary, have it all written up again with another of the Masters signing off anywhere Hammer did in the originals."

"Yes, Sir," nodded the auror, backing out again.

'Old coot bastard,' thought Proudfoot, returning to his great stack of parchment he needed to get through before he could even think of heading home that night.

'First, though,' he thought. 'A note to Bones letting her know of Dumbledore's breach of the house arrest and that he was now in our cells.'

He pulled a small fresh sheet of parchment to himself and quickly wrote the note. A couple of minutes later he charmed it with the Parchment Aeroplane charm and sent it on its way. He knew Bones was still in her own office, as she planned to floo him direct before she left for home herself.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At the Longbottom manor, Dowager Lady Augusta Longbottom had just received her Wizengamot Administrative Services letter informing her of the emergency meeting of the Wizengamot the next morning after Neville had already been in to see her to tell her of the news on the wireless. Both, with Hannah also present, had been listening to the wireless when it arrived.

"With 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' now dead, my Lord," she said. "You should now think about attending the Wizengamot session yourself."

"Not yet, Gran," he said. "I will not make the same mistake my parents did and come out of hiding too soon.

"I will attend under glamour, but be sitting in the visitors' tiers while you remain sitting the Seat as Proxy."

She nodded at the wisdom of that. "A wise precaution," she said. "I will, of course, be happy to continue to sit the Seat for as long as you want or need me to."

"Thank you, Gran," he said.

Gesturing to the wireless, she asked, "How do you feel about this?"

"Relieved," he immediately returned, showing he'd already considered it. "As you know, I tried to tell Dumbledore it wasn't me and that he should have first checked to see if it wasn't Lord Peverell, but he wouldn't listen."

"It appears you were correct," she smiled.

He just nodded while Hannah curled up under his arm on the couch they were sitting upon, waiting to see if there was any further news in the offering.

Given the time, none of the three thought there would be, but there was always the chance. They couldn't sleep, anyway.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	15. Where is Peverell?

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

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 **Chapter Fifteen – Where is Peverell?**

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Though staying up late listening to the wireless Harry, Luna and Sirius were up early the next morning to arrange an early morning appointment in the Ministry.

With Sirius's permission, Harry sent a messenger Patronus to Bones at a few minutes past 8.00am, asking if they could visit via floo for a long chat well before the Wizengamot session.

A few minutes later, a lynx-shaped messenger Patronus arrived and, in Bones's 'etherealed' voice, said, " _My office floo will be opened for you and yours at 8.15am. The same password as last time._ "

Luna immediately dragged Harry up to their room after first calling to Sirius, "Dress up, you old dog! We're visiting the Minister."

After then realising why Luna was dragging him up the stairs - it wasn't for more sex, after all - Harry sighed and resolved himself to having to dress upmarket wizarding for the morning at least.

Because she had the time, Luna was making sure Harry was dressed his best. Of course, for Harry, he thought that meant the Black with green piping near-formal robes as they had the Potter and Peverell crests on the breast. Those weren't the ones she wanted him to wear.

Instead, she had him wearing the deep red robes with Chinese Fireball dragon-skin boots. However, she also had the Potter and Peverell crests stitched to the breast with the crests reversed in order as they were on his Black with green piping robes he'd worn the last time visiting the woman. Dobby was very happy to affix them before he put them on.

She also made sure to use a fairly liberal amount of Sleek-Ezy she massaged into his hair, before it was properly combed and tied back with a crimson red acromantula silk ribbon into a ponytail. She, of course, combed it.

Once she deemed him presentable, he moved to stand before the full height mirror to look. " _Wow_ , Luna!" he softly said. "You do nice work!"

She just smiled back as she was finalising her own dressing requirements. Hers was a witch's informal robe and a pair of kitten-heeled court shoes, supposedly becoming quite popular with young adult witches of late. On her head she wore a small matching fascinator of the same material as the robes. However, Harry had been more interested in the black lacy sheer underwear she wore until she covered it with the robes and was mentally focusing on that.

"Mind out of the gutter, Love," she said as an aside.

He just sighed. Getting involved in a sexual relationship with a Seer had its drawbacks.

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When the two teens rejoined Sirius down in the welcoming parlour with its floo, Harry looked to Sirius to see him wearing his own high class robes with the plum purple of a set of Wizengamot robes under his left arm.

He whistled and said, " _Niiiice_ , Padfoot."

Sirius grinned and returned, "Same with you two; Harry, Luna. Ready to go?"

Harry checked the time and saw they had almost a half minute. "Yep. Now we just need to wait for the correct time."

"Seconds away," said Sirius.

Harry gave a nod and walked over to the fireplace. A pinch of floo powder and, on Sirius's firm, "Now," tossed it into the grate.

Coming out the other end as graceful as he could he stepped aside to allow for Luna coming right behind him.

Again, he had wands in his face from a decent spread, Bones included. He said, "Lady Bones is soon to marry Edward Carmichael."

That had the wands lower as Luna came through next. A long moment later and Sirius came through. "I'm the last," he said, straightening up.

Bones waved her wand at the floo, both shutting it off and locking it down again.

"Welcome," she said. "Thank you for coming both early and promptly."

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The meeting was all about the 'official' announcement Riddle was dead, together with his real history he'd already shared with the woman. And that she would then be announcing 'Lord Peverell' was to be, as per the law, awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. He immediately tried to refuse it. However, she told him he couldn't; that the law stated he was to be awarded one for defeating a dark lord.

"That's dragon crap!" he said. "If it was true, then Harry Potter should have been awarded one back soon after the thirty-first of October, 1981. He wasn't, was he? There was no award."

She looked back in surprise. A moment later, she said, "However, he didn't _kill_ Vol- Riddle, did he?"

"But you did not _know_ that, at the time, did you?" he shot back. "Until Heir Potter announced straight after the Tri-Wizard Tournament... for which he then suffered a year of ongoing abuse and taunting by both the Ministry and the media and on _top_ of the year he suffered as a recipient of scorn and derision for being dragged into the Tri-Wizard Tournament against his will and where everyone... every person, except Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood... went so far as to call him delusional and a liar... abuse you, as Director of Magical Law Enforcement, never put a stop to as you bloody well should have!... you _all_ believed Riddle was dead; and that Potter killed him in 1981. As such, your argument is specious and flawed.

"Do you wish to try again? Or, do you accept I'm correct? Besides, you just said the award is awarded for _defeating_ a dark lord, not for _killing_ them. And you _at least_ admit to him doing that."

He sat there, staring back at her with some level of anger; daring her to contradict him.

She didn't. Instead, she sat at her desk, forward and with her hands cupping her forehead, blocking her face from view.

Finally, she sat back up a little straighter, but still forward. Her expression showed her frustration at what she heard. "Albus Dumbledore, as Mister Potter's magical guardian, blocked Mister Potter from receiving it."

Harry gave a snort of irritation. "Firstly, you said the Order of Merlin cannot be refused. As such, it was against the law for Albus Dumbledore to refuse it on Heir Potter's behalf. If he _did_ refuse it, why was he not arrested and charged for refusing it, then the Order awarded to Heir Potter anyway? Or, is Albus Dumbledore's middle name 'Above-the-law' as I'm more inclined to believe?

"Secondly, Albus Dumbledore was _never_ Mister Potter's magical guardian. That position was always held by Lord Black here." And gestured to Sirius. "As Lord Black was never _convicted_ before he was dumped in Azkaban, his magical guardianship of Heir Potter was never legally stripped from him. That is why he was automatically accepted by Gringotts as Regent for the House of Potter, yes?"

Before Bones could respond and turning to his godfather, he asked, "Did _you_ illegally attempt to refuse Heir Potter's _mandatory_ Order of Merlin, First Class, Lord Black?"

"No, I did not," smirked Sirius.

Turning back to Bones, Harry said, "There you have it, Minister. Heir Potter was denied the Order of Merlin by a man who had no right... both as not being the true magical guardian and, as you posit, by it being illegal to deny the awarding of said Order _as per law_.

"As you... and I mean the government of wizarding Britain here... have already created the precedent _not_ to award the Order of Merlin when the law stated it _must_ be awarded, I feel quite comfortable in refusing it. If you try to prosecute me for not accepting it I will merely point out that Heir Potter awaits the awarding of _his_ Order of Merlin, First Class, before you can even _consider_ awarding me one. So, want to try yet again?"

"Damn it," she mutter-sighed.

"Laws exist for a _reason_ , Minister," he more calmly, but just as firmly, stated. "And to set aside a law because it is... _inconvenient_... at that time you feel justifies setting it aside, brings with it the understanding that if you set aside a law, you open yourself to it becoming a precedent to set it and _others_ aside at a later time. Once it's a precedent, it now renders that law you temporarily set aside as next to useless. And without law, without it applied in even the cases you find it inconvenient to apply it, the term for such a society as is left as a result is called 'anarchy'.

"For much too long you... and again I'm referring to the government and, more especially, the Wizengamot... have allowed Albus 'Above-the-Law' Dumbledore to merely state something is for the Greater Good to set aside _law_. Therefore, I'm left to ask, how is setting aside law 'For the Greater Good', as Albus Dumbledore _demands_ , if doing so brings with it the eventual recognition you have anarchy?"

Without waiting for a respoinse, he continued, "The DMLE is not the _only_ Ministerial body responsible for maintaining law; so is the Wizengamot, whether in judicial or legislative format... and so is the _Minister_. When you set aside the law _supposedly '_ For the Greater Good', you are in effect stating the law is evil. Do you believe that?"

With a sigh she eventually and simply replied, "No."

"Then why set it aside because Albus Dumbledore claimed it to be for the Greater Good to do so?"

"I was not Minister at the time―"

"Ah!" he said, cutting her off and flicking an index finger upright. "But you _were_ the Regent for the Noble and Most Ancient House of Bones. Such a position automatically granted you a Seat upon the Wizengamot until such time as your niece, Susan, took up the Headship of your House. _Why_ did you not refuse Dumbledore's claims and actively work against him for the betterment of your society, as you were _obligated_ by your position as Regent to do?"

"I'd have lost my job as Chief Auror of the DMLE," she grumbled.

"Then you should have lost it!" he irritably snapped back. "What _point_ was there for you to keep it if you did not use it to do your lawful duty? You took the _easy_ route, not the _right_ route.

"By doing so, you demeaned both yourself and your position. You know that, don't you? When an incumbent plays politics with their job, when their job is not supposed to be one of politics, they demean it _and_ themselves."

Her thunderous, but silent, expression back had him roll his eyes. "Glare at me all you want. If you want Lord Hardwin Peverell to accept the Order of Merlin, First Class, you need to clear up a couple of things for me first."

"And what would that be?" she demanded.

"What would _those_ be," he countered. "First; the Order of Merlin, First Class. You said you automatically earned it defeating a Dark Lord. However, that's not entirely true, is it?"

With a sudden look of puzzlement she said, "Pardon? What do you mean?"

" _If_ you earned the Order of Merlin, First Class, for defeating a Dark Lord; then that means anyone who defeated Riddle in battle would have automatically earned one.

"Heir Potter's parents, for a start, defeated him to the point where they handily drove him off on no less than three occasions. Dumbledore's also done it on a great many occasions, as well. Supposedly, so did Neville Longbottom. So, why weren't _they_ awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for each of those defeats?"

Still slightly confused she replied, "No. _Defeat_ is just a... polite way of saying 'killed'."

"But they don't mean the same thing, do they?" he countered. "For example, if you and I were to play a game of chess and you beat me, then you would have defeated me in a form of battle. However, I would not also be dead, would I?"

"Well, no," she replied. "But what does that―"

"One moment," he interrupted. "Was Albus Dumbledore awarded his Order of Merlin, First Class, for _defeating_ Gellert Grindelwald... or for _killing_ him?"

"Put that way, for killing him, of course," she replied.

He grinned back and said, "And, yet, Albus Dumbledore has never claimed to have _killed_ Gellert Grindelwald; he has only ever claimed to have _defeated_ him. So, why was he awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class?"

"Because he was only being polite," she replied. "He killed him."

He smiled, "Did he? Who... who _has_ that evidence... who told you that?" Leaning forward as she looked back in confusion, he asked, "What if we were to prove to you that Grindelwald is, in fact, _alive_?"

Frowning she replied, "That's impossible."

"What is?" he asked. "That we can prove that Grindelwald is alive; or that Dumbledore didn't kill him?"

"Either," she snapped. "Both!"

With a shrug, he sat back and said, "Proving Grindelwald is alive would, of course, prove Dumbledore didn't kill him, wouldn't it? Well, we can do that."

"How?" she demanded.

"You've already got Dumbledore in custody, right?"

"Yes," she warily returned.

With his smile widening into a grin, he replied, "Here's how..."

Then he explained and Bones was shocked at how easy it would be; that was, after Sirius presented to her a wizarding photograph of Grindelwald holding a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ dated only a year ago. After that - and her subsequent rant at how everyone had been misled - she was, as tournament poker players put it, 'all in'.

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After the short meeting - where Harry, as Peverell, still wasn't prepared to accept the Order of Merlin, First Class, for killing 'Voldemort' - Bones's three visitors headed back to Grimmauld Place for a quick preparation job. At least, Harry would not accept the Order of Merlin until Dumbledore's deceit was made public and 'Harry Potter' received his first.

And, unknown to Bones, Harry... as Peverell... was going to make an _entrance_.

Harry's entrance was going to be a combined prank and a way in which to rattle Albus Dumbledore enough to knock him off his game. He was going to mock the man in a prank so over the top Harry and Luna could barely get Sirius to help; he was laughing himself sick.

They had to call in Remus to come and help. However, the trouble with that plan was that - while Remus was initially and in order shocked, appalled and speechless - he quickly developed an understanding of what would happen and ended up joining Sirius in a dose of laughing so hard he ended up on the floor red in the face and crying with tears running down his cheeks; making him just as useless as Sirius as an assistant. They ended up having to call on Dobby to help.

Dobby didn't have the same reaction, though he thought his rightful master was worthy of being even more worshipped.

He did help, though. Some of what they wanted to accomplish needed both elf magic in general and elf time dilation magic to accomplish. Harry could use it in combat, but he couldn't use it in other ways; though Dobby, of course, could.

Luna was also quite amused, but she recognised what Harry was attempting to accomplish - having Dumbledore seen as what he truly was, a manipulative old man who relied on his ill-gained reputation to have people do what he wanted them to do. It was, after all, why she insisted he order and pick up a set of pure white robes. Take Dumbledore's reputation away from him and his entire stance collapsed like a poorly erected house of cards in a sensitive balance; and Harry intended to be the breeze that knocked the whole lot down.

With the outfit he was going to wear finished in time - when they originally didn't think they'd have a chance with it until Dobby helped, but still thought it was worth the attempt - the four of them, plus Dobby, stood back to look at it.

" _Sweet_ Merlin," Sirius finally said. " _That_ will definitely 'out Dumbledore', Dumbledore."

Grinning, Remus said, "He'll probably even be jealous... Less the hat, of course."

After a quick check of her mechanical watch, Luna said to Harry, "Go change. We don't have much time."

Harry gave a nod, kissed her on the cheek and had Dobby move the robes from where they'd worked on them in the parlour to his and Luna's room so he could change into them. Of the five of them, with the exception of Dobby, Luna's efforts and knowledge of ancient runes and enchanting meant she did the majority of the actual work. Harry and the two ex-Marauders only came up with ideas, some of which Luna did her best to try and accomplish in the limited time they had.

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With her three guests - Harry, Luna and Sirius - quickly leaving after their meeting, Bones started setting things up at her end. She had no idea 'Peverell' was going to dress outlandishly, but she knew he'd definitely be doing something that would rattle Dumbledore's irritating constant faux-serenity. She just hoped it was good enough.

Tapping her rune stone connection with her Senior Undersecretary, she called him in.

Sticking his head in the door, Diggory asked, "Ma'am?"

She asked, "Have our Acting Director of the DMLE, Master Auror Proudfoot, join me would you?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied, pulling out.

When the man walked in ten minutes later, it was clear he was due for a decent break. It appeared he hadn't even gone home the previous evening to sleep. The trouble with that was, she couldn't give him that break. There was still far too much work that needed to be done that couldn't be delayed and he needed to be here to do it. What she was going to ask him to do would add more work for his aurors, but only for a few of them.

"Samuel," she said. "I have a favour to ask. It's a biggie and it's against Dumbledore."

Surprised at the use of his first name, Proudfoot was a moment before he simply asked, "What do you need, Ma'am?"

"At the commencement of the Wizengamot meeting at 9.30am, shortly thereafter I want you to bring Dumbledore to the meeting," she replied.

"He's going on trial, already?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking," she cagily returned, before then deciding the man needed to know - _earned_ the right to know - more. "There is an incredibly big lie about Dumbledore that everyone believes is the gospel truth. It isn't and I've been shown proof it isn't. However, Dumbledore will do everything he possibly can to have people not know the truth of it. I wouldn't put it past him obliviating one and all _just_ to ensure this truth doesn't come to light.

"As we currently have the man in custody we can treat him as the prisoner he is so he _can't_ be doing that mass obliviation.

"I want you to bring him down to the Meeting as if he's being brought to trial. I also want you to force him into the defendant's chair and chain him down. That means manacles, chains, the full works. Got all that?"

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Proudfoot. A moment later he hesitantly asked, "May I inquire as to what the big lie is?"

She thought only a moment before she firmly replied, "Dumbledore did not kill Gellert Grindelwald."

It was a long moment before Proudfoot goggled back in shock. It took a few seconds for it to percolate through his mind what she'd told him. He was that tired.

"Weeellll... _fuck_!" he quietly declared.

Rather than tell him off for his language, she just gave a wry smile back.

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"Hear ye!" intoned the Master of the Court, a Master Auror. "All rise to make welcome Her Majesty's loyal Wizengamot, sitting in Emergency Session, this Nineteen Hundredth and Seventy Ninth sitting of the Courts Magical!"

As the packed room of visitors and media all stood, the witches and wizards who formed the make up of the Wizengamot all entered from the antechamber behind the tiers of the Wizengamot Seats and made their way to their Seats; including Sirius. The current Chief Warlock, Miles Ogden of the Noble and Ancient House of Ogden, was last to enter and find his seat.

It was quite noticeable how many of those Seats were also empty; nearly a quarter of them, but not all of them considered to be for Dark Houses.

As soon as he sat, Ogden looked around to ensure himself all the Members who would be attending were sat, then picked up and gave the gavel before him a single bang on the block on his small desk provided for it. "Be seated," he firmly stated.

That gave the 'audience' permission to sit, except for the auror detail in places around the chamber.

Within the tiers of the visitors' gallery sat Luna Lovegood. As the VIP guest of Member Lord Sirius Black, she was sat only one extra seat away from Neville Longbottom, who was there as the 'VIP guest' of Member Augusta Longbottom, his proxy. He was under a minor glamour, but Luna knew it was him. Remus was sitting one row back as a VIP guest of Lord Peverell.

Today was the first time Neville had attended the Wizengamot, other than to install his grandmother as his proxy as required by law. Dumbledore had 'volunteered' himself to be the Longbottom proxy, which was quickly shot down by both Longbottoms when he first put it forth.

However, since that first attendance, the young man had not been 'permitted' to return. Dumbledore had blocked him each time he'd tried to argue he should attend.

Luna, though, had attended on quite a few occasions. Always, she'd gone as Sirius's personal guest; which is why she was accorded a VIP guest slot. She attended so often there were many who thought she was Sirius's 'witch on the side', or would one day become his actual wife.

It helped to stop any suitors from approaching her or her father for her hand, but did have a negative effect on Sirius's love life. In return and contrary to Sirius's wishes, she'd informed certain witches of the truth as to her and Sirius's relationship and that they weren't to tell Sirius that she'd told them. It amused her that she was acting somewhat as a 'sex negotiator' for him, but she was accepting of the risk of others finding out about their true relationship for Sirius to get... relief.

Today that meant there were many, who also were often VIP guests, to recognise her as being like them; a regular and not one to worry about. Even Longbottom wasn't surprised to see her there; even if he wasn't, until then, a regular himself.

Once the noises of people sitting mostly died away again, Chief Warlock Ogden said, "Minister Bones. Under your authority as Minister you have gathered us this day to sit in Emergency Session. For what purpose have we been so gathered?" His Seat was one which had an automatic voice enhancement charm, which allowed him to be heard clearly across the entire chambers.

The words were both for the record and a formality. There was little doubt, in anyone's mind, just why they were all there that day.

Standing, Bones said, "Chief Warlock, fellow Members of the Wizengamot, invited guests both international and domestic, gentle witches and wizards and those currently listening in real time via the WWN through the WWN transmitter currently active in this chamber... I have summoned and stand before you to announce and confirm that the dark wizard, the so called Dark Lord known as Lord Voldemort, is _dead_."

While it was noticed how many listening to her flinched when she said 'Voldemort', it was nothing to their reactions to when she told them Riddle was dead. The gasps and shudders from her mentioning his supposed name shifted a moment later to cheers from those in the room, almost all from the audience sitting in the visitors' gallery opposite.

Luna watched as Longbottom, the Lord, didn't verbally react. Instead, he tensed slightly and leaned forward. He was staring with intensity at Bones and not paying anyone else a damn bit of attention. As such, he didn't see Luna looking to him with an amused expression. Neither did anyone else, really.

Ogden let it go on for about twenty seconds before he raised his gavel and rapped it on its block a few times. That had the noises quickly quiet down again.

"Minister Bones," he said. "Will you present that evidence... that confirmation?"

"I will, Sir," she returned. She then gave a quick gesture to one of the aurors standing next to a door and awaiting her signal. That auror gave a silent nod back, turned to the door, opened it and gestured within.

A moment later, a 'legged' solid hospital stretcher was levitated within. There was clearly a body on it, but it was only outlined with a draped plain white sheet with its edges nearly reaching down to the floor, entirely covering it.

Once it was in the middle of the floor, the 'escorting' Healer wearing Saint Mungo's Healer's robes which designated him a Master Healer, moved forward and folded back the sheet at the head end until Riddle's entire face was shown. Then the Healer stepped back and waited for further instructions.

Meanwhile, those watching were getting quite excited and aggravated. As soon as the sheet was folded back, there were even a couple of muffled screams. Longbottom's only reaction was a slight gasp and a start before sitting up straighter.

Again, Ogden had to bang his gavel a couple of times to restore at least what was somewhat order.

When the noise quieted enough to allow her to be heard, Bones said, "Chief Warlock, fellow Members of the Wizengamot, invited guests both international and domestic, gentle witches and wizards and those currently listening in real time via the WWN... I present, as evidence of him being deceased, the _body_ of the dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort."

Surprisingly, this time there were not as many flinches at mention of the dreaded name. People were already in enough shock.

Not waiting a jot she then called, "Master Healer Stanwyck... do you confirm the body before you is that of the one who called himself Lord Voldemort?"

Again, only a few flinches.

With a firm nod and voice the Healer replied, "It is. Using forensic magics it has been confirmed that this body is that of the one known as Lord Voldemort."

Then he, the Healer, reached into his robes as he walked around to stand before the Wizengamot Scribe and offered up a short stack of documents. "I hand to the Scribe a copy of the Declaration of Death Certificate, together with written testimony as to the nature of the man's death."

"Verbally, Master Healer," said Bones. "How did he die?"

"He was struck with a Piercing Curse, Pecutio, to the middle of the forehead," replied the Healer, after handing over the documents before walking back to where he first stood.

Gesturing with an index finger to Riddle's head he said, "The power of the curse was strong enough to pierce right through the frontal bone of the skull, through the brain and exited out through the parietal bone at the back of the skull, just above the lambdoid suture where the parietal bone meets the occipital bone. Death would have been instant."

Having already been handed a copy of the Death Certificate, Bones gave a nod and said, "There is an apparent error in your parchmentwork, Healer."

Frowning back, the Healer quietly asked, "Oh?"

With a nod, Bones said, "You have put down the deceased's name as Tom Marvolo Riddle."

That had quite a few give gasps of shock or surprise.

"That is correct," the Healer returned. "Our forensic magics told us that, too. However, it is that name which is his _true_ name; the one given to him at his birth."

"His true name?" she pressed.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," replied the Healer. "Offspring of one Thomas Hardwick Riddle, muggle, and one Merope Gaunt, no middle name, witch of the Ancient House of Gaunt."

As a great swell of noise broke out, it was only his own shock that had Ogden delay before banging his gavel and demanding silence again.

Once he had it and before he could tell folks off for it, one of the Members, a witch, exclaimed, " _Wait!_ So that's _not_ You-Know-Who?"

"It _is_ , Madam," the Healer firmly returned. "Lord Voldemort, the name by which he is... was... known, is a _false name_. I can only surmise as to why he changed―"

That was a far as he got before the noises of outrage - those appalled the name was a lie and those flatly decrying the Healer was lying - rose too high for him to be heard.

Instead of demanding to be heard, he simply turned his attention to Ogden and, with a cocked eyebrow silently asking 'Well?', waited.

Ogden had to bang his gavel quite a few times before he had quiet again. " _E-nough!_ " he snapped. " _E-nough! Or I'll have you removed from these chambers!_ "

That had the last few pockets quiet again. No one wanted to find themselves tossed from this quite momentous Meeting.

"Master Healer Stanwyck," called Bones. "Explain your reasoning."

The Master Healer nodded and immediately described how magical signatures were recorded within the WEA for examination purposes and how the magical signature of the body before them matched that of one Tom Marvolo Riddle kept on record by the WEA.

And then explained how the magical signature of the body before him was compared with both that magical signature and the magical signature they had on record for Voldemort at the Saint Mungo's. They matched.

That had everyone listening shocked, awed, angry and a few other emotions. That was irrefutable evidence.

"And, finally," said the Healer. He spun about, drew his wand and, with his back to the Wizengamot, fire-wrote the name _TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE_ just above head height in the air in nine to twelve inch high letters.

"This is how he came up with the name," said the Healer, before he then performed the same charm he'd been shown by Bones, who'd been shown by Harry, who'd been shown by Riddle himself back in his second year at Hogwarts.

The letters shifted about until they finally spelled out _I AM LORD VOLDEMORT_.

Once done, the Healer turned back around to face the Wizengamot and said, "The entire name, together with the 'I AM' at the front, is an anagram of his birth name... his true name... Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was a half-blood in the true sense of the term; a child born of a magical and a muggle, not even a muggle- _born_.

"The Dark Lord could only be considered a lord as he had loyal followers. However, he most certainly was not a _true_ lord in that he was not of a noble line."

Surprisingly, there was not again a great ruckus of noise. Everyone was too stunned to react. The Healer stepped back to the body and flipped the sheet back over to cover the face and allow the sheet to once more drape over the head end of the stretcher.

Finally, one wizard from the Seats asked, "And just where _is_ the one who killed him? Where is Lord Peverell?"

"Lord Peverell will be with us, shortly," replied Bones. "However, I first want to bring in another; the one who has been telling us since the death of Heir Potter that Lord Neville Longbottom was supposed to be the one to kill Vol― _Riddle_."

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All around wizarding Britain, it was as if the world had stopped. In places like Diagon Alley the shops were, for the most part, open. However, everyone was gathered around the nearest wizarding wireless to listen in on what was happening within the Wizengamot that day.

Almost everyone had wanted to attend and be in the gallery. However, there was both only so much seating and people had, in places, other commitments. Some had shops they had to open, some had to visit those same shops, some had to work in the Ministry and some had to go overseas. Some had to stay at home to look after little ones and others wanted to find out if listening to the session on the wireless could be something they'd quite like to do at another time. And some just had the wireless on to listen to in the background, but wished they'd switch back to music.

At The Burrow in Ottery St Catchpole, Molly Weasley was listening to the wireless in the kitchen with her two youngest, Ron and Ginny. Ginny was 'practicing' her knitting under the watchful eye of her mother while Ron was busy scarfing down yet another helping of 'elevenses', morning tea. He was on his fourth.

Switching her attention to her son, as Ron tried to casually reach for let another wedge of his mother's pumpkin pie - of which he'd already eaten almost half - she slapped his hand away, picked up his empty plate and magicked it into the sink.

" _Hey!_ " he complained. "I wasn't finished!"

"No," she agreed. "You were well _beyond_ finished. You've managed to put away almost half of that pie and it's not even a proper meal time. Now, be silent while I listen to the radio. If you need to make noise, the gnomes in the garden are becoming a nuisance again."

With a huff Ron shot to his feet, glared silently at his mother for a moment while she wasn't looking at him and stomped his way up to his bedroom.

As he climbed the first set of stairs he heard his mother say, "Knit, perl, knit, perl, dear. Not knit, knit, perl, perl."

At Hogwarts, the students were also gathered around wizarding wirelesses and listening; that is, except for those who couldn't be bothered with the happenings of the Wizengamot and were doing assignments, playing chess, playing exploding snap or what-not.

As expected, the staff - less Dumbledore - had immediately realised that the students would be up and either celebrating, commiserating or outright denying that the Dark Lord was killed and being quite vociferous up to full-on physically defending their belief the Dark Lord was not dead. For some students, that also meant they needed to be informed of the death of a 'loved one', such as a father, who had died as they were a member of Voldemort's supposed Inner Circle.

They knew the Gryffindors, especially, would taunt the Slytherins and that could have easily led to wands drawn and combative magic cast. As such, the teaching staff needed to get on top of it before it became an issue. For that reason they first made sure, through head count, that no student was outside their common rooms. Those that were, even if they were in the library at the time, were ordered back to their common rooms for the remainder of the night.

The next morning each House was 'read the riot act' by their Head of House about what punishment would await them if they decided to ignore their warnings not to get into any confrontation. They were told it would not matter who started a confrontation, all participants would be equally and suitably punished.

That led to a breakfast in the Great Hall were not one word spoken in anger or taunting occurred between the four House tables. The punishment they were all warned would befall them was of such severity _none_ of them misbehaved. What helped was that the children of the Inner Circle Death Eaters and some other DEs had already been sent home for bereavement leave. They'd been advised that one or both of their parents, and or a sibling, were confirmed deceased.

Now most of the remaining students had retreated to their common rooms and were listening in to the live transmission from the Wizengamot. For many of them, they shortly understood why their missing Headmaster was missing and where he was to be found.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Back at the Wizengamot chambers and before anyone could say anything, Bones gestured to the same auror as before; who had returned to standing by the door. The auror again gave a nod and again opened the door.

This time, two large Senior Aurors came in with Dumbledore between them, gripped by his arms and manacled. He did not look happy. They were followed by two more aurors who both had their wands out, but safely pointed down and away. They were clearly treating the old man as a very dangerous criminal.

While they were doing that, Stanwyck had moved the re-shrouded body and its stretcher off to one side, but not too far away.

Surprisingly, the old man was still wearing his gaudy muted-fuchsia-coloured robes with his wizard hat perched on top of his head. However, his beard was free of the two gold rings he often had it gathered with, allowing his beard to hang free and open. Further, his 'head' hair was only tied back with a simple ribbon. And there was no sign of his wand, money pouch or similar accoutrements.

Unknown to anyone bar the aurors and Bones all his charms, except the ones that animated the colouring on his robes, had been stripped away. Though still on his person his hat was no longer a portkey, neither was his beard, neither was his belt. And he'd been scanned for and had removed potioned items, including a false tooth that contained a powerful condensed neutraliser to Veritaserum.

As he was escorted in a few steps, Dumbledore spotted Bones and tried to stop. He only managed to quickly adopt a serene expression and exclaim, "Ahhh!―" before he was firmly yanked forward and dragged towards the prisoner's chair.

Shocked, Dumbledore had to quickly shuffle forward before he was dragged off his feet.

When he saw to where he was being dragged, the accused's enruned chair with its golden chains, he tried to stop himself. "Now, Amelia!―" he tried.

Still ignoring him, the two aurors manhandled him into the chair, which immediately caused the chains to rattle and bind him in place. Not until then did the aurors release him.

"Amelia!" he exclaimed, showing shock and disappointment as to his treatment. "What is the _meaning_ of this?"

While Dumbledore was being dragged in and forward, before being firmly placed into the accused's chair, there was quite a bit of noise from both the Members and the gallery. Not a few were quietly showing their displeasure at the handling of Dumbledore; one many thought of as their hero.

Ignoring him, Bones clearly stated for the Members and those listening, "Mister Dumbledore - due to him dangerously casting Fiendfyre in the midst of Diagon Alley before immediately apparating out and leaving the Fiendfyre to run rampant and uncontrolled, placing the lives of a great many witches and wizards... including _children_... at great risk - was placed under house arrest at Hogwarts until such time as a trial could be arranged for him for his reckless endangerment of our citizenry.

"Mister Dumbledore was informed when told he was under conditional house arrest that, if he breached that conditional arrest, would be caught and placed into a DMLE holding cell until his trial. Though given the courtesy of house arrest for his criminal act, Mister Dumbledore did breach that conditional arrest last night. He was subsequently caught and incarcerated in a DMLE holding cell... as he was most fairly _warned_ would happen.

"As he breached the conditions of his house arrest, _by established law_ Mister Dumbledore is to be considered a flight risk. As such, he is lawfully bound while out of those cells."

"Now, Amelia―" the old man tried.

Bones ignored him and verbally rode right over the top of whatever the old man was going to say.

" _However_ , we are not here to sit in trial of Mister Dumbledore just yet," she explained. "Mister Dumbledore was brought here so that, contrary to what he has been telling everyone, he could see for himself that the one known as the dark lord is dead... and that it was _not_ by the hand of Lord Neville Longbottom."

As the Healer began to step back to the body to uncover the face again, Dumbledore said, "Now, Amelia. I _assure_ you... the dark lord is _not_ dead."

Just as the Healer was about to once more flip the sheet back, he froze in surprise before turning to look more fully at the old man. "You, Mister Dumbledore, are an _idiot_ ," he firmly stated.

Then, before Dumbledore could look his way and rebuke him, the Healer did flip the sheet back.

Turning again to Dumbledore, he said, " _I_... am a Master Healer with more than twenty years of experience. _You_... aren't even a medi-wizard who can make such a call." Gesturing to the body he said, " _That_ man is the one everyone knew as Lord Voldemort. And... as an expert in what constitutes living and dead... _I_ assure _you_ , he is _dead_!

"A piercing curse through the brain tends to render one _very_ dead. Would me casting a Life Signs charm on the body prove it to you?"

Choosing to ignore the Healer, considering the man a lost cause and irrelevant anyway, Dumbledore turned his attention to Bones again. "Amelia, my dear. I assure you, unless killed by young Neville, Voldemort _will_ return."

"Why would you think that, Albus?" she smirked.

Clearly at least a tiny bit irritated, he said, "I prefer... ' _Headmaster_ Dumbledore', Amelia."

"I don't care," she said. "Here, you are actually _Prisoner_ Dumbledore unless I state otherwise. And, if you're going to call me 'Amelia', I'm going to decide to call you 'Albus' if I want to... _Albus_. Or would you prefer I address you as Prisoner Dumbledore?"

As he frowned, he decided to ignore her disrespect and said, "Voldemort has created―"

His intent by using the name was to make people both gasp in shock and see how he was 'brave' enough to use the name with perceived impunity.

Suddenly cutting him off, she snapped, "You mean _Tom Marvolo Riddle;_ don't you, Albus?"

Himself shocked, Dumbledore was a few moments before he stuttered, "E-errr... You... know... his real name?"

"Yes, Albus," she snidely said. "And it may have saved many lives if we'd known that years ago. How long have _you_ known his real name?"

With at first a mental beratement of himself for letting slip he knew Riddle's true name, he gave a sniff of condescension and replied, "That is not important. What is important, here, is that Voldemort will be―"

"We... the Wizengamot... will decide what is and is not important, Albus," she interrupted. "Again. For how long have you known _Riddle's_ real name?"

"And I say again it is not important," he firmly returned.

She smiled back, but it was not a pleasant one, and said, "Very well, Albus. This is not yet your trial, so I will not have Veritaserum forced on you... _for now_."

Ignoring the old man's look of slight horror, she turned to the rest of the Wizengamot and said, "I remind you all that Albus Dumbledore is considered, by our laws, as a half-blood. Therefore, he is not exempt from the forced use of Veritaserum when he refuses to answer questions put to him during trial. If he refuses to answer even one single question directly and fully during his upcoming trial... then, when the time comes, I will be _demanding_ he be dosed with Veritaserum _as per the law_."

That elicited a few mutters and murmurs from the Members and quite a few more louder remarks from the gallery, both 'for' and 'against' Dumbledore being dosed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Down in the DMLE, work was still going apace with the still ongoing hunt for Death Eaters; with the added 'bonus' of the hunt now including those who were unMarked, but major financial backers of Riddle and his 'insurrectionist movement'.

A wizarding wireless was still on, but there were only those taking a well-earned break who were listening in on what was going on a few floors below them.

Saint Mungo's was another place where the wireless was on throughout the building but people were still working. Admittedly, there were now very few entering 'Casualty', the Emergency Treatment Centre, but there were still patients to attend. Most of those over the past couple of days were aurors who'd had to fight and capture Death Eaters who resisted arrest.

However, just as with aurors within the DMLE, there were still those Healers and other staff who were on 'down' times and were listening in.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

"Now, Albus," said Bones. "Let's try again, shall we? From just _when_ were you aware that the one who called himself Voldemort was actually truly named Tom Marvolo Riddle?"

Dumbledore just sat there and glared back.

"No?" she asked. "I checked the records in Lady Marchbanks's office of the WEA before I came here this morning, Dumbledore. Tom Marvolo Riddle was a student of yours back in the late thirties and early to mid forties. He was even Head Boy back in 1945. As such, you knew _exactly_ who he was.

"I'm also left wondering why Minerva McGonagall, who was two years behind him at Hogwarts; and Rubeus Hagrid, who was _three_ years behind him; have _also_ never mentioned that. Could they have, perchance, _forgotten_?"

"What are you attempting to imply with that line of questioning, Amelia?" he lowly demanded.

"It's a little, but very significant, fact that all other students who attended Hogwarts at the time seem to have forgotten, Albus," she returned. "I'm asking if you have an explanation for that?"

"I do not," he firmly replied.

"You do not?" she pressed. "As in you do not have a response you want to give me, right?"

When Dumbledore didn't respond to that question, she just smiled at him before she said, "That'll be yet another question I add to the list of those questions I'll be asking you once I can get Veritaserum into you."

"Minister, that's enough," said one of Dumbledore's supporters off the Wizengamot. It was Doge. "You will cease this... _muggle hunt_... of Albus Dumbledore, immediately."

Barely glancing in Doge's direction, she said, "I am unsurprised _you_ were the first to leap to Dumbledore's defence, Member Doge; though I must ask _why_. You must be at _least_ somewhat cognizant of what this man has truly done; information you know would paint Dumbledore in a bad light if it ever _came_ to light."

Doge huffed and snapped, "I do not appreciate your implication, Minister. Need I remind you, you hold office only at our forbearance?"

"And need I remind _you_ that this session of the Wizengamot is currently being transmitted via the WWN to every wizarding wireless set throughout the country?" she sneered back. "And... need I remind you that this meeting is currently being attended by the International press, not just the _Daily Prophet_?

"Your actions... your _words_... here today are being judged by the entire populace, Member Doge. And, within the day, they will be judged on the International stage. I am well prepared and quite comfortable with my words being so judged; are you with yours?"

It took a moment for Doge to begin to reply. His expression showed he'd forgotten about both the international press and the WWN transmitter. "I―" he began.

"Enough," said Ogden, quite firmly. "Madam Bones, if you have evidence to present to this body regarding any illicit or illegal deeds by Albus Dumbledore, this is not the time to air them."

"Hear, hear," said a few others.

"I believe we have waited enough for the arrival of Lord Peverell," he continued. "Just _where_ is he?"

Standing just inside the main doors to the chamber under his invisibility cloak, since stripped of the beacon and mage sight charms Dumbledore had managed to affix to it through the weaving into the material of tiny matching black threads which had since been removed, Harry thought, 'I do believe that's my cue.'

He quickly exited the room, cast a Notice-me-Not charm on himself and removed the cloak.

Quickly checking himself over to ensure all was as it should be, he stepped back through the doors, deactivating the Notice-me-Not and activating other charms that were on stand-by at the time.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	16. Alby-Walby Above-the-Law Dissemblemore

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

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 _ **A/N 1:** I really have no idea why so many of you thought the last chapter was a cliffhanger. If you thought that, then this one is going to throw you _all _into a snit. You've been suitably warned. :)  
_

 _ **A/N 2:** And, yes, I'm really taking the mickey out of Dumbledore in this chapter... just as you've been warned I will. The point Harry's making, if you can't figure it out with all the advanced clues left for you, is to demonstrate Dumbledore's shenanigans up via over-the-top parody. _

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**Chapter Sixteen - 'Alby-Walby Above-the-Law Dissemblemore'**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

First, Harry let off a charm that had the first riff of the brass band version of ' _Hail to the Chief_ ' blare out as he, taking reasonably long strides, strode into the room. He held his head high.

What those in the room saw when they focused their gazes on him, drawn to him by the blaring trumpets, was the missing Lord Peverell quite outlandishly dressed. He was dressed in pure white old-fashioned closed robes with near-neon coloured and completely animated fireworks going off in the embroidery, covering the entire set of robes. On his head was a narrow-brimmed conical hat with the peak tightly 'rolled' forward and down. On his feet were white wizarding slippers, which just peeked out from under the hem of his robes as his feet scissored back and forth as he strode. The only _non_ -colourful part of his dress was the two crests on his breast signifying him to be the Lord of the twin Houses of Peverell and Potter.

The entire chamber had gone silent as he entered. It could have been due to the blaring of the trumpets, his outlandish dress, simple shock or any combination of the three. Either way, they remained silent as he walked forward.

Focused only on Bones, who looked back at him in gaping shock, he lightly smirked at her when her monocle dropped out of her eye socket. And came to a stop slightly forward of Dumbledore.

"Am _eeee_ llia, my dear _guuuurrllll_!" he cheerily called, clearly mocking Dumbledore. "How _wuuun_ -derful to see you! I'm _suuuurre_ you'll excuse me for being a condescending tool by not addressing you by your rightful title. I am, after all, Alby-Walby Above-the-Law Dissemblemore, Headjob of Pig Pimple School of Prankcraft and Trickery, Dictatorial Head of the Order of the Flaming Flamingo, Leader of the _Bright_!"

Using a hidden rune in the cuff of his off-hand sleeve as he spoke, suddenly his hat unfurled straight up on the word 'bright' and, as the red pom-pom on top appeared to rattle a little, it actually gave the sound of a loud raspberry. Then it immediately rewound down and tight. In an imperious and condescending tone he added, "You may... _genuflect_!"

That had quite a few in the Members' tiers start snorting and snickering; though they also tried to muffle it.

Appearing almost as an after-thought and before the chamber could recover from its collective shock Harry raised his right hand flicked it about the room saying, "Wandless compulsion charm... Wandless compulsion charm... Wandless compulsion charm."

That had a few, especially in the Members' tiers, snap out of their shock and draw their wands for a quick scan of themselves.

" _Really_ , Lord Peverell," snapped Bones, one of those first to scan themselves... and come up clear.

"Now, Am _eeee_ lia; you can call me... Dictator Dissemblemore," he returned before pointing a finger at his eyes. "Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle."

That earned him a few more snickers and a quick, short burst of laughter.

"I, of course, demand... sorry... _insisty-wisty_ you address me by my proper title while I address you by your first name, just so you understand that I am _superior_ to you," he said. "Of course, I also address you as 'my dear girl' to further cement within your minds that you are an innocent child to my wise and more powerful adult self."

That earned him a few angry exclamations.

That's when he turned to look at Dumbledore. " _Al_ -bus!" he mock-exclaimed. "My d _eeeeee_ ar _boooooyyy_! It appears you have managed to finally get yourself... _arrested_!"

One of the Members gave an explosive snort of amusement before he started giggling.

Giving an overly-dramatic gasp of shock, Harry ignored it and asked, "Gasp!... _Alby?_... Have you gone... _dull?!_ "

That had the giggler start laughing. Quite a few were now snickering and snorting in amusement.

"It's _you_ who is dark, Peverell," the old man practically snarled back.

"I _can't_ be dark, Albie-my-boy," Harry condescendingly returned. "For _I_ am the leader of..." striking a heroic pose, "The _bright_! While you, Albie..." Then gestured at the chained older man. "The gold of the prisoner's chains just do not go well with the muted fuchsia, Albie-old-boy."

That earned him a few more snickers, chuckles and giggles from the Members as Dumbledore spluttered in near choleric anger.

Turning his attention to the gurney, Harry looked at the again unshrouded face of Riddle, held his left hand up as if cupping under a skull and said, "Alas! Poor Tommy; for _you_ knew him... Albus."

" _Lord Peverell!_ " barked Madam Bones; the only one, besides Dumbledore, who didn't seem amused by Harry's antics.

Immediately adopting a choir-boy-like expression, even if it was ruined by the slight smirk on his face, Harry looked back and asked, "Yes, Am _eeee_ lia?... my dear g _iii_ rl?"

"Stop that!" she snapped back.

"Oh?" he asked, still smirking. Indicating Dumbledore he said, "Old Albus, here, behaves like a condescending tool all the time. Don't you, Albus?" Then he immediately ignored the man, deliberately denying him a response, as he turned back to Bones. "I figured everyone let him get away with it because he _supposedly_ earned the Order of Merlin, First Class. Since you're trying to hang the same award around _my_ neck... I also figured it was alright to behave with the same condescending attitude _he_ constantly employs with all of you."

"No!" barked Dumbledore. "You can't give him an Order of Merlin... not even _Third_ Class! I'm telling you, Voldemort _will be back_!

"This is a trick by the _dark_... probably some _plan_ dreamed up between Voldemort and Peverell... to lull people into a false sense of security! They want everyone to _believe_ Voldemort is dead so the light becomes easy pickings."

That little diatribe stunned everyone.

Harry was one of the first to recover, gave a snort and said, "Wow, Alby my dear boy! For your upcoming trial I see you're going for the mentally incompetent strategy. Can't say I blame you. With the wealth of evidence mounting against you, I think it's your only viable option."

"I am _not_ losing my mind!" snap/growled the old man.

"More dissembling, Albus?" asked Harry. "I didn't say 'losing your mind', I said 'going for the mentally incompetent strategy'.

"Even though you near-constantly go with the fake wise old... and dottery... grandfather schtick you've had going on for years, I do _not_ believe you're losing your mind. Your ability to constantly give an answer that isn't an answer, but is rather a one-off statement that gives the _appearance_ of an answer, is truth enough of _that_!"

"Gentlemen!" snapped Bones, cutting in when it appeared Dumbledore was going to snarl something back at Harry.

As soon as she saw both turn their attention to her, she said, "Lord Peverell, we asked you to join us to give a statement describing what happened... what led to the death of Lor―" She suddenly paused and gestured to the body of Riddle. "Tom Riddle."

"Oh, him," said Harry, as if he'd only just figured that out. "He sent a triplet of his bully-boys out to my girlfriend's place to... shall we say... collect me. They then, whether I wanted to go or not, took me back to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire; Riddle's supposedly super-secret hideout.

"While there and while surrounded by thirteen of Riddle's thugs... including the Chief Thug Riddle himself... I was fortunate to be able to defend myself long enough to free myself of their... let's say... unwanted and unappreciated company.

"In the process of accomplishing that, Riddle and his top thugs... otherwise known, I believe, as his Inner Circle... were all killed."

"You killed them," she stated.

"He _murdered_ them!" declared Dumbledore.

Harry looked at him and grinned for a moment before he returned his attention to Bones. "See? I told you he'd immediately claim I'd murdered them. You owe me a sickle... Ameeeelia, my dear guurrll."

After a quick glance back at Dumbledore, Harry said, "In self defence I killed them, yes. And... as you would know and as is according to magical Britain's laws, Madam Bones... the use of lethal force in defence of self when lethal force is being applied towards yourself is lawful."

"Yes, Lord Peverell, it is," she firmly stated, scowling at Dumbledore as she did. "As such, no charges will be levelled towards you regarding the deaths of Tom Riddle or his supposed Inner Circle."

After another glare at a fuming Dumbledore, she asked, "And, Tom Riddle?"

"During the fight and recognising him to be the greatest threat to my life, I was luckily able to get a shot through his defences." Indicating the body, he said, "The piercing to the forehead of his body, there, is the result of that.

"I think I managed to get through the defences of most of the other thugs... Inner Circle... when they were momentarily shocked I was able to get through Chief Thug Riddle's defences.

"I consider myself both very lucky and very fortunate I'm still standing."

With a nod she added, "And, as Tom Riddle was already declared a dark lord... even if using his sobriquet of Lord Voldemort... there was a kill on sight order out on him and his followers, anyway. As such, there could _never_ be a charge of manslaughter lawfully directed upon you."

Standing up proudly, he declared, "I... the one you should call Alby-Walby Above-the-Law Dissemblemore, Headjob of Pig Pimple School of Prankcraft and Trickery, Dictatorial Head of the Order of the Flaming Flamingo, Leader of the _Bright_..." Again and just as suddenly as the first time, his hat unfurled straight up and, as the red pom-pom on top appeared to rattle a little, it gave the sound of a loud raspberry. Then it again immediately rewound down and tight. "... have slayed the beast, Tom Marvolo Riddle, _and_ his bully-boy thugs known as his supposed Inner Circle... _and won the war_ for the forces of the _BRIGHT_!"

In an imperious and self-gratifying tone he added, "You may... _applaud_!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In the Wizengamot chamber, quite a few people actually did start to applaud. That surprised Harry, quite a bit. He was going for comedic flippancy and the people in the chamber took him serious.

Out in the rest of Magical Britain, those who were listening in on the Wizarding Wireless Network, heard the applause slowly start, before it turned into what was nearing a full ovation.

It lasted for about half a minute before the Chief Warlock, Ogden, brought his gavel down for a couple of short and sharp raps on the little wooden disk on the bench before him. He wanted silence and quickly got it.

Harry was grinning at him.

Choosing to ignore the young man standing on the floor before him, Ogden turned to Madam Bones. "Madam Minister?" he asked. "Does what Lord Peverell shared with us match your own knowledge of the events?"

"It does, Chief Warlock," she firmly replied. "I was present and one of the first on the scene after the battle Lord Peverell had with Riddle and his Inner Circle. Other than having covered the bodies with clean white sheets... as he'd had to lead two previously kidnapped children out of a hidden chamber down behind a wall cabinet in the room in which it occurred and he didn't want the children to see the bodies... our forensic investigators from within the Auror Corps and from Saint Mungo's confirm what Lord Peverell has told us.

"A forensic examination of the scene showed that Lord Peverell was standing in the middle of the floor of the room and was surrounded by a ring that comprised all thirteen of Riddle's latest Inner Circle; with Riddle, himself, sitting on a throne-like chair on a low platform. At least three of the Inner Circle had, as their most recent casts reflected on examination of their wands, cast Killing curses at Lord Peverell during what was obviously a battle. Others had also cast dark or otherwise lethal curses at him.

"An examination of Lord Peverell's wand also shows he did not cast any dark curses back. However, what he did cast back was clearly effective and match what killed Riddle and the Death Eaters."

On an apparent roll, she continued, "It is the recommendation of the Minister's Office that Lord Peverell be awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for his actions in destroying both the dark wizard known as the Dark Lord Voldemort, together with the entirety of his Inner Circle; and, therefore and as he claimed, ending the war. As you would know, the Order of Merlin, First Class, is always awarded to one who def―... who _kills_ a dark lord, saving society from their depredations.

"However, Lord Peverell claims he will refuse any such award until such time, as he sees it, where previous such awards were awarded in error or not awarded as they should have been, are corrected."

"What, in Merlin's name, does _that_ mean?!" barked Ogden right back, first and loudest to respond. Almost the entirety of the Wizengamot were apparently just as incensed as they were just as vociferous.

Before Bones could say anything, Harry firmly stated, "Perhaps you should direct your question to _me_... the Leader of the Bright!... considering _I'm_ the one who said it and I'm standing right here."

As the Members quieted down again, amidst a great deal of muted anger and denunciations, the Chief Warlock turned his angry countenance on Harry. " _Well?_ " he barked.

Harry's knee-jerk reaction was to go for flippant and answer, 'Yes, I am; thank you for asking', but he could see that would only make matters worse.

"The Order of Merlin has, in my opinion, become a joke," he replied, turning serious. "At least, to whom and why it is awarded in magical Britain at least."

Before anyone else - including the Chief Warlock - could arc up again, he began to explain. "The second last person in magical Britain awarded the Order of Merlin, even if it was a Third Class, was Peter Pettigrew. I understand it has since been stripped from him when it was discovered it should have been awarded to the person who he set up to take the fall for his crimes - Sirius Black. And that it has now correctly been awarded to Lord Sirius Black.

"However, there was a _second_ person awarded an Order of Merlin, Third Class, surrounding those events - Cornelius Fudge. Cornelius Fudge was awarded the Order for supposedly capturing and taking into custody Voldemort's supposed right-hand wizard - Sirius Black. You now know Sirius Black was _not_ the supposed right-hand wizard of Voldemort... and never was... and yet you've done nothing to rectify Cornelius Fudge being awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class; an awarding... you all now damned well know... was for false purposes. And you knew that _years_ ago."

He gave that a moment to be mentally absorbed by the members before he started on his next one.

"Next is the awarding of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, to Gilderoy Lockhart. I have it on very good authority, together with a memory strand of a situation where he _blatantly_ admitted to two boys that he did not accomplish _any_ of those feats of bravery defeating supposedly dark creatures he wrote about in his books. The two boys in question, whom he admitted this to, were Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter right before Harry Potter entered the Chamber of Secrets in June of 1993 to rescue an eleven year old girl.

"According to Gilderoy Lockhart himself, he wandered the world in search of others who had accomplished such acts and had them tell him all about what happened. Then he obliviated them of doing it, taking their feat unto himself and writing his books as if _he_ was the one who performed them.

"He now, if I recall correctly, resides in the Janus Thickey Ward of Saint Mungo's, where he ended up because he tried to obliviate both Misters Weasley and Potter with a broken wand just before Mister Potter went on ahead into the Chamber of Secrets. The wand caused the obliviation curse to backfire, hitting him with his own curse and also bringing down the roof of the underground cave which lead to the Chamber.

"Then there's Mister Potter's heroic act of going into the Chamber of Secrets to rescue that then eleven year old girl. He knew it was very likely a basilisk he'd be facing and, apparently, _he was right_. Mister Potter fought a sixty plus foot long basilisk one-on-one with nothing but a sword... and came out victorious. I remind you that, at the time, Mister Potter was only twelve years old.

"Now, for any wizard to face such a fearsome beast should earn him a suitable award for bravery. That he did it when twelve years old... that he did it while only wielding a sword... that he did it to save a young witch... should see that award being an Order of Merlin, Second Class, at a minimum. That he did it to also save the entirety of the then population of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... _full of all your heirs_... should see that award upgraded to an Order of Merlin, First Class."

Out of the blue, one of the Members called out in a scoffing, disrespectful voice, "You expect us to believe Harry Potter, at only twelve years of age, killed a basilisk with a sword?"

Harry turned a flat stare on the man for long enough that the man slowly went white in fear, before he answered, "Yes. Actually, you can also ask old Alby, here," gesturing to Dumbledore, "If what I told you was the truth. Directly after Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Ginevra Weasley... the young girl they went down to rescue... returned from the Chamber of Secrets and before they were even taken to the infirmary, they were escorted by Minerva McGonagall to her office where Alby; his pet Death Eater, Severus Snape; and the Weasley parents, Arthur and Molly; awaited them.

"At the time, Ronald Weasley had a broken leg, Ginevra Weasley had just been freed of a partial forced possession and Harry Potter had just been bitten by that basilisk and only saved from dying from the bite by the Phoenix, Fawkes, crying tears into the wound.

"Even when this was explained to old Alby - and in the presence of Minerva McGonagall, Death Eater Snape and Arthur and Molly Weasley - medical aid was _still_ not called. The Weasley parents took their children to the infirmary, where Ronald Weasley's leg had him in a bed and dosed with Skele-Gro for the night, but young Miss Weasley was taken directly home by her parents. After more than _ten months_ of a forced partial possession, young Miss Weasley received _no_ medical treatment, not even being attended at least once by a certified mind healer."

"That's _criminal_!" exclaimed Master Healer Stanwyck, who'd most recently given an expert medical opinion as to the cause of death and identity of Riddle's body.

The man strode forward from where he'd taken up station off to the side and was making a bee-line for Dumbledore. "Dumbledore, you bloody fool!" he barked. "Are you naffing _insane_?"

Dumbledore spluttered for a few moments before he imperiously glared back and declared, "I _assure_ you, _all_ the children were fine."

" _Again_ with the naffing unqualified assurances, you old twit?" barked Stanwyck. "Need I remind you, _yet again_ , you are _not_ a Master Healer... let _alone_ a Mind Healer... let _alone_ even a bloody medi-wizard?"

As Stanwyck continued to glare at Dumbledore after snarling at him, Harry took the narrative back up. "Old Alby here, who has no medical qualifications whatsoever, decided she needed _no_ such medical intervention and declared her fit enough to return home; and the Weasley parents took his word for it... because he is, after all, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and his word is... good enough."

" _No, it's bloody not!_ " barked Stanwyck.

"As for Harry Potter," Harry continued, "After interrogating the poor boy for an hour... and even when the poor boy showed Albus, McGonagall and Snape where the basilisk bit him... Albus _continued_ to interrogate the boy until he, the mighty Albus Dumbledore, had wrung every skerrick of information out of him that he could.

"Then... get this... he did _not_ then order the boy to go to the infirmary. No, old Albus here ordered the boy to return directly to the Gryffindor tower... and even had McGonagall directly escort him there, just in case young Harry decided for _himself_ he needed to go to the infirmary, after all."

" _Also_ criminal!" barked Stanwyck.

Harry then turned to stare at Dumbledore himself and said, "Now... Alby, my boy... _have_... _I_... _lied_?"

As soon as Harry had turned his attention to him, Dumbledore looked down and away, scowling. However, he never said a word.

Harry gave him a good ten seconds before he turned his attention back to the Chief Warlock. "You can take it from his silence that Albus does not refute my claims. He really can't because he knows that Arthur, Molly, Ronald and Ginevra Weasley, Minerva McGonagall and Poppy Pomfrey... _at least_... can back up what I've said here concerning that issue.

"I'll further point out that Old Alby, here, as claimed magical guardian of Mister Harry Potter, it was _his_ responsibility to ensure Mister Potter's medical needs were met. That he _knew_ the boy to have been bitten by a thousand year old basilisk... and did _not_ ensure the boy was immediately treated by competent medical professionals... means Old Alby here is guilty of child neglect... _and he, the Weasleys, McGonagall and Pomfrey know it_."

" _Albus Dumbledore!_ " barked a clearly incensed Ogden. "Is what Lord Peverell and Healer Stanwyck just informed us true?... You will answer in full and correctly my question... or, I will demand a motion to have you dosed with Veritaserum _right here_ and _right now_!"

"Young Harry was fine," said Dumbledore. "All he needed was a good night's sleep and―"

Riding over the top of the old man, Harry suddenly said, "Did you notice he didn't immediately say 'No'? Alby is, once again, dissembling."

Before Ogden had a chance to say anything, Harry added, "Albus said 'Young Harry was fine'. Does Albus secretly hold a mastery in healing, after all? If he doesn't, how is he able to declare 'Young Harry was fine' and that all he needed was 'a good night's sleep'?"

" _No, he doesn't!_ " barked Stanwyck, who appeared to be getting more and more riled.

" _Albus!_ " barked Ogden again, staring in fury at the old man. "Was Mister Potter given immediate medical attention that night for the basilisk bite? Yes... or No?"

Dumbledore stuttered for a few moments before he tried to sit up straighter under the chains and said, "As I was saying―"

" _Yes or No, Albus!_ " barked Ogden. "This is your last chance to _directly_ answer the question with either 'Yes' or 'No' before I order you be charged with child neglect and immediately dosed with Veritaserum!"

Dumbledore fumed for a few moments before he quietly replied, "Nnno."

That had the entire Wizengamot and many of those sitting in the chamber as guests and visitors getting all up in their wands and shouting.

It took Ogden quite a few minutes to again get a modicum of silence.

Finally getting the silence he wanted, Ogden snapped, "Right! Minister Bones, have our acting Director of the DMLE charge this old bastard with child neglect of two minors under his care, would you? And, Minister Bones, inform the School Board they are to _fire_ his arse as Headmaster."

" _What?_ " exclaimed Dumbledore. " _Nooo!_ You _can't!_ I need to remain at the school to protect the students for when _Voldemort_ returns!"

" _Protect_ the students?" scoffed Ogden. "By your own admission in not having Mister Potter immediately seen to by a qualified healer regarding a purported bite by a basilisk, shows you _won't_ protect the students."

Not waiting for Dumbledore to say anything else, he turned back to Bones and said, "And have someone collect Minerva McGonagall and take her to a DMLE interrogation room, when you've got a chance. I want to know why she didn't act as she should have either."

Bones nodded and replied, "As you say, Chief Warlock."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Back at Hogwarts Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn were all looking to McGonagall with shocked anger. McGonagall was wincing and had her eyes closed.

"Minerva!" exclaimed Flitwick. "How could you have _done_ such a thing?"

" _I don't know!_ " she firmly, but quietly, returned. "I don't understand it. I remember that happening, but I have no idea as to _why_ I behaved that way."

After a quiet few moments, Slughorn said, "A compulsion charm or potion."

When the others looked to him he explained, "It had to be a compulsion charm or potion, Minerva. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"But, who―?" she began, before she quietly sighed in mental pain, "Dumbledore."

"Indeed," said Slughorn.

With another sigh, McGonagall said, "I'd best take myself to the DMLE and save them the trip here."

"Without Albus here you have control of the wards, Min," said Flitwick. "You'll need to hand them off before you go."

Almost distractedly she gave a nod back and said, "I'll go up to Albus's office and move them to you."

"Then I'd best come with," he declared, hopping off his seat.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry waited as the noise levels once again dropped before he asked, "Shall we return back to why I will not accept the Order of Merlin, Chief Warlock?"

"There's more?!" demanded Ogden.

"Oh, yes indeedy," said Harry. "Returning to the issue of Mister Potter... as he, at the age of twelve, single-handedly faced off against and killed a thousand year old basilisk _with a sword_... is there anyone here who does not believe the boy rightfully earned an Order of Merlin that night? And, if you _do_ , then why was he not so awarded?"

"We were unaware of it," snapped Bones.

"Yes, you were. Or, at the least, the Wizengamot was," disagreed Harry. "At the time, Albus Dumbledore was Chief Warlock of this very body. As such, Albus Dumbledore was the official _representative_ of this body. Therefore and as such, the Wizengamot _were_ aware, through its official representative, that Mister Harry Potter, Heir Apparent of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, successfully battled to the death a class 5X dangerous magical creature, a thousand year old basilisk. As such, the Wizengamot had the information of what happened... and yet Mister Potter did not receive the Order of Merlin... as he surely was due."

More glares were aimed at Dumbledore with the current Chief Warlock muttering, "Shit... shit... _shit_!"

" _Bloody hell, Dumbledore!_ " he barked. "Why, in the seven Hells, did you not pass that information on _to the rest of us_!?"

Again, Dumbledore scowled back for a few moments before he quietly replied, "I did not receive any proper evidence that young Harry actually battled, let alone killed, such a creature. I only―"

Harry suddenly laughed, which shut Dumbledore up again.

Looking to Ogden, he asked, "Did you take specific note of what Dumbledore actually said? Did you notice he was, yet again, giving you a dissembled answer?"

"What do you mean?" demanded Ogden.

"He did not say he did not receive any evidence; he said he did not receive any _proper_ evidence," replied Harry. "In other words he was saying he _did_ receive evidence, just not what _he_ considers proper.

"However, it seems Albus has forgotten he _did_ receive proper evidence. For a start, he received eye witness accounts from Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Ginevra Weasley. That's three sources. Having stripped his own memories away back to when he was a small child, Gilderoy Lockhart could not be considered a reliable witness."

"They were children!" snapped Dumbledore. "Children are well known to be unreliable witnesses."

Ignoring the old man, Harry continued, "Next, he also demanded from Mister Potter the sword Mister Potter used to kill the basilisk. That sword was... _is_... the Sword of Gryffindor. As a goblin forged blade, the blade of the sword takes within itself that which makes it stronger. As the blade became coated in basilisk venom, the blade _absorbed_ some of the venom. Albus would have easily been able to detect that as well as the _blood_ of the basilisk, which was also on the blade at the time; and on Heir Potter's robes."

Knowing he couldn't argue with that level of logic, the old man kept silent, just scowled and looked away again.

"And finally, Albus's phoenix companion, Fawkes, was also in the Chamber of Secrets and aided Mister Potter in killing the basilisk by pecking out its eyes. Does Albus claim his phoenix companion is an unreliable source?"

Turning back to Dumbledore, he asked, "Well, Albus my boy? Again. Did I lie?"

Instead of answering, Dumbledore demanded, "How do you know all this?"

Ignoring the man and his question, Harry turned to Ogden. "Did you notice Albus completely avoided the question, this time, Chief Warlock? Instead of answering with a dissembled response, his usual method, this time he's chosen to ignore it completely."

Turning back to Dumbledore before Ogden could respond, Harry said, "I asked you a closed question, Albus my boy. It has only four possible responses: 'Yes', 'no', 'I don't know' and 'I'm sorry, but I do not understand the question'. There was nothing confusing about the question so that drops the fourth off the list of options. Because the question relates specifically to you and your actions that drops the third off. That leaves you with the options of answering either 'Yes' or 'No'. So, let's try again, shall we? Again, Albus my boy. _Did... I... lie?_ "

"I do not answer to you," huffed the old man

"No, but you do answer to _us_ ," cut in Ogden. "'Yes' or 'No', Dumbledore. Did Lord Peverell lie?"

Dumbledore grumbled for a few moments before he snarled, "No."

Again, Members in the tiers of the Wizengamot voiced their displeasure.

Harry waited until Ogden got control of the chambers back and, before the man could say anything, he said, "So, you now know Mister Potter should have been put forward for the Order of Merlin back in June of 1993. You also now know Gilderoy Lockhart should _not_ have been awarded the Order of Merlin, back when he was, because he did not accomplish the feats he claimed he did.

"Moving on!

"So far we have Peter Pettigrew being awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class, though later it was correctly stripped from him. Relating to that original incident we have Cornelius Fudge being awarded the Order of Merlin for capturing the so-called right hand wizard of Voldemort, when he did not; and the man's Order of Merlin has _still not_ been stripped from _him_. Next, we have a feat of heroism from Mister Potter in June 1993 for which he should have been awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, or better; and he has not. And we have Gilderoy Lockhart being awarded the Order of Merlin, Third Class, for feats he didn't actually perform.

"Now I direct your attention to the night of the 31st of October, 1981... Yes, that night."

As quite a few people, Members and visitors, squirmed in their seats a little, Harry ignored it. "This is the night that Harry Potter... according to practically everyone... killed Riddle the first time.

"Now, I might be wrong here, but the Minister was telling me earlier that when someone kills a recognised dark lord that's the immediate earning of an Order of Merlin, First Class. The Minister's answer to me as to why Mister Potter was not awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class... as everyone believed he was the one who killed the dark lord that night... was that it was blocked by... Albus Dumbledore.

"Now, if the Order of―"

"But Tom lived," interrupted Dumbledore.

With a sigh Harry said, "That night, Tom Riddle's body was reduced... by every account of the event I've read... to a pile of ash. All that was left of him was his robes and his wand."

Turning to Stanwyck he asked, "Master Healer Stanwyck; if a person's body is reduced to ash... that is, no heartbeat, no brain activity, no nothing... would he be considered dead?"

"Yes. Certainly," the healer immediately replied. "That he managed to get himself another body and come back is irrelevant. He was dead until then."

After a nod to Stanwyck, Harry said, "That aside, with the apparent exception of old Albus, you all believed until June 1995 that the dark lord, Tom Riddle a.k.a. Lord Voldemort, was dead and that the infant Harry Potter killed him. Therefore, according to _you_ , young Mister Harry Potter earned that night... _irrespective of his age_... an Order of Merlin, First Class. According to the laws... at least that's what Minister Bones tried to tell me this morning... it was, according to law, mandatory that young Mister Potter be awarded the Order. You did not do that. You did not award him the Order.

"Minister Bones also told me this morning, that it was Albus Dumbledore that blocked Harry Potter from being awarded the Order. Albus Dumbledore supposedly used his authority as Mister Potter's magical guardian to block him from receiving it.

"Now, here's my problem with that. Firstly, as Sirius Black was Mister Potter's rightful magical guardian, Albus Dumbledore had no right to claim magical guardianship of the boy. He could claim _legal_ guardianship, yes. However, it is _magic_ which decides who holds magical guardianship, not the Chief Warlock, nor the Wizengamot at-large; and magic _never_ stripped it from Sirius Black. That was discovered by you in June 1996. As such, as Albus Dumbledore was not Mister Potter's magical guardian, he could _not_ use magical guardianship status to refuse it on Mister Potter's behalf.

"Secondly, 'Mandatory' means just that; as in, it _will_ be awarded whether anyone likes it or not, _including_ the magical guardian. You people... and by that I mean the Wizengamot as a body... _broke international law_ by doing what Albus Dumbledore wanted and allowing him to block the awarding of the Order of Merlin, First Class, from Heir Potter for killing your dark lord for you.

" _Shame on you!_ Shame on you _all!_ " he glared at them. "What's now annoying the Minister is that, because you've now created a legal precedent where the Order of Merlin, First Class, can be refused when it is supposed to be awarded to someone who kills a lawfully recognised dark lord... it's put me in the position _I_ can now refuse one if you're hell-bent on awarding me one for killing Riddle."

When the Members and even some of the visitors got all up in wands about that, Harry just waited them out with a recalcitrant bearing and stern expression.

Finally, Ogden managed to reign all the noise back down and looked to Harry. "And if we decide to award it, anyway?"

"I'd _still_ refuse it," said Harry. Then, before anyone could start yelling again, he continued, "Besides the previous incidences where Orders of Merlin were either falsely awarded and were not awarded when they should have been; there's still one Order of Merlin, falsely awarded, I want to see rectified first."

"And what would _that_ be?" snarled one 'light' Member wizard of the Wizengamot before anyone else could get in first.

Harry smiled back and indicated Dumbledore. "Old Albus, here, was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for killing Grindelwald... right?"

"What of it?" snapped the wizard.

Harry smiled again, ignored the man and turned to Dumbledore. "Tell me, Albus my boy, did you actually _kill_ Gellert Grindelwald?"

Dumbledore huffed and said, "Are you trying to imply something?"

"Nope!" said Harry. "And nice avoidance of the question. Shall I ask it again? Or, are you actually going to answer it without me having to do that?"

"Everyone _knows_ I defeated Gellert in battle," scowled the old man.

Harry grinned back and turned to look once more at Ogden. "Did you notice Albus's answer? I once again asked him a simple yes or no question; and, once again, Albus responded with a statement that did not answer the question. Once again, Albus provided a _dissembling_ response. This time he attempted to change the nature of the question by changing the question from 'Did you _kill_ Grindelwald?' to 'Did you _defeat_ Grindelwald?'.

"That's his usual _modus operandi_ when asked questions he doesn't want to answer, nor wants anyone to know he _didn't_ actually answer. If he doesn't like the question, he'll reword it to what he's willing to answer and answer that instead. Dissembling.

"So, let's try again, shall we?" He turned back to the old man and said, "Albus my boy; did you _kill_ Gellert Grindelwald? Yes or no?"

This time the old man snarled back, "I've already answered the question. Your harping on the subject is nothing but a _trespass_ on my reputation."

Harry chuckled and once again looked to Ogden. "And _still_ Albus will not answer the question."

"The question is a nonsense!" snapped Dumbledore.

"And I beg to differ, Dumbledore," said Bones, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Answer the question. Did you kill... not defeat, but _kill_... Gellert Grindelwald?"

Again Dumbledore huffed, "I will not answer such a question. It is an affront for you to even ask it."

She grinned an evil little smirk at him. "It appears Lord Peverell is correct. When asked a direct question you are reluctant to answer you will dissemble a response.

"Very well," she continued, then turned her attention to Ogden. "Chief Warlock..."

When the man looked more fully to her he semi-formally asked, "Minister Bones?"

"A few hours ago it was brought to my attention Albus Dumbledore was not being entirely honest about the result of his supposed duel with Gellert Grindelwald back in 1945," she replied. "I was provided what I consider sufficient evidence that Gellert Grindelwald was, in fact, _alive_."

She paused as she knew what the result of that statement would be. The light would get up in their wands about anyone questioning Albus Dumbledore, while the dark, what there now was of them, would immediately 'recognise' Albus Dumbledore had perpetrated a fraud and wanted him dealt with there and then. She was right.

It took Ogden a long minute plus before he recovered control of the chamber again.

Finally he stared at Bones and demanded, "Perhaps you'd best _explain_ that remark, Madam Bones."

"And I'm happy to," she replied, before she thought about it for a longer moment. "Actually, I'm _not_ happy to, but needs must."

Seeming to rearrange her notes a little first, she said, "As I said, it was brought to my attention during a morning meeting, together with what I felt was sufficient evidence, that Albus Dumbledore was not entirely forthcoming regarding his duel with Gellert Grindelwald. Further, that evidence showed that Grindelwald was still alive."

Before anyone could arc up again, she forged ahead.

"Immediately on the conclusion of that meeting I directly contacted the ICW regarding the issue, to confirm that the ICW had not retracted its 'kill-on-sight' order against the man. They had not.

"I then informed the ICW that I had evidence Gellert Grindelwald was still alive, together with where he could be found. And, in return, was informed by the Head of the ICW Combat Force that they would immediately investigate. Then waited for word back from them.

"An hour later they were back in contact with me to confirm that Gellert Grindelwald _was_ found alive where the evidence I was provided indicated he was. _AND_..." she shouted the last word to get over the sudden rise of noise her remark elicited, which immediately quieted everyone down again. " _And_... as per the still existing kill-on-sight order, they immediately put the man to death."

" _WHHAAAATT!?_ " Dumbledore loudly exclaimed. " _How DARE they!_ "

To Harry, Dumbledore was the loudest of those who exclaimed their anger/disgust/horror at what they'd just learned because he, Harry, was both the closest to the old man and felt Dumbledore had also 'pumped' magic into his bellow of anger.

Harry waited until the rest of the noise died down, with Ogden again having to judiciously bang his gavel quite a few times to accomplish it, before he said, " _Aaaaand_... Dumbledore's reaction, just then, proves he knew the man to be alive. I'll also point out... Dumbledore has _never_ said he'd killed Grindelwald; he has only said he defeated him. However, he knew everyone thought he had... killed him, that is.

"Dumbledore might think that means he hasn't lied, but he did. It's called a lie of omission. That means it's fraud.

"And, secondly, accepting the Order of Merlin comes with it a financial benefit - the reward money. The reward money for Grindelwald was only payable on his death at the hands of whomever killed him. As Dumbledore _accepted_ the reward money, when he knew Grindelwald was alive, is embezzlement. That he did it from the ICW's own funds makes it an _international_ crime and, therefore, prosecutable _only_ by the international courts.

"Therefore, while you want to prosecute him for the highly dangerous act of casting Fiendfyre right at the main doors of Gringotts in Diagon Alley... for which the goblins want to prosecute him, as well... the ICW are going to want to put him on trial, first."

Then he turned to look at Dumbledore with the moist disappointed expression he could muster. Then, yet again mimicking the old man, he said, "Ah, Albus my boy; I'm _sooo_ disappointed in you. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Dumbledore just glared back in hate, but never said a word.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

While McGonagall was apparently still on her way to the Ministry to attend the Wizengamot chambers, the other three heads of houses of Hogwarts were still sitting together in Flitwick's office listening to the wireless.

Flitwick sighed and said, "Well, it looks like Albus won't be back."

Sprout gave a huff and said, "Good riddance, if everything we've heard is correct."

"I do not doubt it," said Slughorn. "Apparently, Lord Peverell's been right on the galleon with every other issue he's raised. I find myself actually impressed with how much he seems to know about what happened regarding young Mister Potter during his time as a student here."

Flitwick nodded and said, "Yes; which means, Min's in trouble."

"Not necessarily," said Sprout. "I, too, do not believe Min would have allowed Mister Potter to return to his dormitory without first going to the infirmary to have the bite on his arm checked out. That particular potion smells off to me."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry had just made his disappointment remark to Dumbledore when Minerva McGonagall walked into the chambers through the main entrance.

Harry hadn't spotted her, but many of those facing him from the Members' tiers did. Ogden was first to speak, which drew Harry's attention to the woman.

"Professor McGonagall, what brings you here?" he called.

As Harry turned to look when Ogden was looking he could see a quite angry McGonagall walking towards him, but with her attention on Ogden.

"After hearing much of what has been said in these chambers today via the wizarding wireless, I thought it best I come in before aurors were sent to fetch me," she replied. "I come to offer my own testimony about what Lord Peverell has spoken about concerning Mister Potter's time at Hogwarts."

"And, can you?" he asked.

"I can report that what Lord Peverell said concerning what happened on Mister Potter's return from the fabled Chamber of Secrets is, to the best of my knowledge, true," she flatly stated.

" _Minerva!_ " exclaimed Dumbledore, shocked his deputy would 'confirm' such a fact.

She turned to scowl at him for a long moment and said, "Go _blow_ it out your ears, Albus," before she turned her attention back to Ogden. "Further, Chief Warlock, I offer no explanation as to why I acted as I did that night. I also have no explanation as to why I acted the way I did with a lot _more_ of what happened regarding Mister Potter during his time at Hogwarts... _and before_.

"However our Potions Professor, Professor Slughorn, believes it reeks of me having been under the effects of compulsion potions or charms at the time; as does Professor Flitwick. I have no other explanation, as I know I would _not_ have acted that way if I wasn't under such effects.

"Further, I'm willing to offer a magical vow as to the truth of my words."

"We may just get to that, Madam McGonagall," said Bones, getting in first. "It all depends, I guess, on whether or not we, the Wizengamot, are going to be able to put Dumbledore on trial; or if it will be, as Lord Peverell posits, the ICW putting him on trial first."

"First?" asked Harry. "Oh, I do not think you understand. You see, whether he admits it or not, old Albus here... by putting Grindelwald in Nurmengard instead of actually killing him, as he knows most people _thought_ he did... was actually _harbouring_ a fugitive dark lord; even if that 'harbouring' was by way of locking him inside a prison cell. Under International wizarding law, harbouring a recognised dark lord is an _automatic death sentence_."

He heard McGonagall gasp in shock as she was led off to the side by a pair of aurors. However, she was by far not the only one to do so.

"Old Albus here... since it's now been _proven_ he was harbouring Gellert Grindelwald, a lawfully recognised dark lord, even if that harbouring occurred inside a prison... is bound for the ICW to face justice," he explained. "I doubt he'll live much beyond his trial in front of their courts."

That there were very few who got up in their wands about that little declaration told Harry they were either all in numbed shock or nothing much about the old man's depravities would surprise them now.

Instead, he decided to break out into a song for which he'd rewritten the lyrics in his head while on Hadrian; the Great Pretender.

" _Oh yes... he's the great... dissembler..."_

Then he triggered yet another rune stone in the hem of his sleeve. This one provided the 'backing' vocals. That it was in his own voice the pitch was modified, so no one but Sirius and Luna recognised it.

 _"(ooh-oh ooh-oh)"_

" _Preteeennn...ding he's... doing goo-ood. (ooh-oh ooh-oh)_  
" _His need... is such... he deceives... so much;_  
" _He'll lie and... deceive you... he wou-ould._

" _Oh-oh yes... he's the great... dissembler; (ooh-oh ooh-oh)  
_ " _Hidden... in his lies... of his ow-wn. (ooh-oh ooh-oh)  
_ " _He plays... us-for fools... but he's reaaa-ly a tool;  
_ " _Just laaaau... ghing at us... like a clow-wn._

" _Untrue... are his tales... of his... greatest feats;  
_ " _Not real... when I feel... what the truth... can't conceal_."

" _Ah-oooh-ooh-aah―_ "

"Lord Peverell!" barked Bones.

The sudden interruption of his singing caused Harry to cough and hack a little before he looked at Bones in hurt surprise.

" _In the middle of the chorus?!_ " he whined. " _Really_ , Amelia... my _deeear guuurl..._ I'm _sooo_ disappointed in you!"

That actually earned him a couple of sniggers from among the Members.

"Lord Peverell," she sighed. " _Please_ stop with the theatrics."

"Oh?" he asked, feigning surprise. "Again: Did you ever demand the same of old Albus, here?"

When she just scowled back, Harry had his answer. "That would be a 'No'," he quietly said.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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Across the country where most of the population by then were listening in via the wireless, there were quite a few snickers and even open laughter at Harry's singing and other behaviour.

Molly Weasley, after sending her youngest son outside when he came downstairs complaining of being hungry yet again, just sighed in disappointment at what she was hearing. Her youngest, Ginevra, had already set aside her knitting so she too could focus on what was faithfully being reported via the wireless.

"I _know_ that singing voice," said Ginevra. "I'm _sure_ of it. I just can't remember from when or where I heard it."

At Hogwarts, Pomona had given her own snort of amusement and quietly said, "The young man has a decent singing voice, at least; tenor, I think."

"Somewhere between that and baritone, yes," said Slughorn.

And at other places around the country others were showing their own amusement, tempered with anger towards Dumbledore, or quietly giving their opinions to one another of what they were hearing.

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―==(oIo)==―  
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Back at the Wizengamot, Harry turned his attention from Bones and addressed the entire body. "In case I have failed to make my point through parody, I've acted the way I have purely to show you lot what you have allowed this old fool..." indicated Dumbledore, "... to get away with for many years.

"If you are unwilling to allow me to get away with the exact... same... behaviour when I clearly demonstrate it for you, then you show yourselves to be hypocrites. _Are_ you hypocrites?"

He let that sink into the minds opposite, seeing many look away in apparent shame, before he continued. "Your failure to act to curb Dissemblemore's mind games aside, you people demanded my attendance here today. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was because you were planning on hanging a pretty medal around my neck.

"Well, you've now been informed as to what you need to do to gain my compliance to go along with that.

"To summarise it all for you, you need to... One: award Heir Harry Potter an Order of Merlin for facing one-on-one a Class 5X highly dangerous magical beast, slaying it with a sword and saving the lives of _all your heirs_... all those others who were students at Hogwarts in the 1992/93 school year, at any rate, together with the entirety of the population of the rest of the school at that time... from being killed by said beast.

"Two: strip the Order of Merlin, Third Class, from Gilderoy Lockhart. The man is a complete fraud and only got the basis of his fantasy tales by _stealing_ them from the people who actually performed the feats. He's also, if you haven't figured it out yet, guilty of the illegal performing of obliviations and magical assault.

"Three: strip the Order of Merlin, Third Class, from Cornelius Fudge as he did _not_ capture 'The Dark Lord's Right Hand Man', after all, for which he was awarded _his_ Order of Merlin; making the award having been awarded on a false premise.

"Four: award Harry Potter the Order of Merlin, First Class, for killing Tom Riddle... a recognised, at the time, dark lord... back on the 31st of October, 1981; as you were bloody well required by International law to do.

"And, five: strip the Order of Merlin, First Class, from Albus Above-the-Law Dumbledore as he did _not_ kill Gellert Grindelwald, after all; and of which Minister Bones can now provide proof.

"As far as I can see... as far as the evidence shows... the only persons to have been fairly awarded the Order of Merlin in magical Britain in the last century are Hector Dagworth-Granger and, recently, Lord Sirius Black.

"Once you've completed those five tasks, then... _only_ then... will you gain my compliance. Until those conditions are met you can all, collectively, _shove it_ where the sun doesn't shine. I believe the award to be _tainted_ until those matters are rectified. And I will _not_ be placed in the same category as frauds and liars."

As he'd been laying out his demands the noise from the Members rose until he'd had to almost shout to be heard over the resultant din. However, he intended for it to be laid bare and refused to quiet down until he'd finished laying it all out. Once done he shut up, folded his arms across his chest and just stared back at Ogden with an eyebrow cocked and a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

It took Ogden quite a while to finally regain control. When he did, though, he glared right back at Harry and firmly stated, "The Wizengamot will _not_ be blackmailed into meeting your demands."

"Then don't be," Harry immediately returned. "Just know, though... if you do not do exactly as I require... you can, as I suggested, take your Order of Merlin and shove it up your collective arses. And I'll swear to that on my magic, if you _attempt_ to push it.

"I will also take this entire matter before the ICW and have _them_ do what you will not have done. As the Order of Merlin is an _International_ award, they have the power to award or retract any and all Orders of Merlin... _as they see fit_. And, if they do such, the rest of the international magical community are going to know they did it... and why.

Once again he shut up, folded his arms across his chest and just stared back at Ogden with an eyebrow cocked. But didn't smirk back this time.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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* * *

 _A/N Footnote: See? And I had to split the chapter here, both because of length and because there's too much to go on within the Wizengamot scene to jam it all into one chappie._


	17. Outing Himself

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Seventeen - Outing Himself**

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―==(oIo)==―  
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While the staring match between Ogden and Harry was going on, another Member, a senior witch, said, "While you two gentlemen engage in your dick-swinging contest... I want to know how it is that Lord Peverell was able to kill the dar... kill this Riddle man... when we all know what the words of the prophecy say.

" _Is_ your birthday on the thirty-first of July, young man?"

Harry's eyes snapped from a scowling Ogden to the witch in question. " _Finally_ , someone has decided to actually use the brains God gave them and asked a logical question," he smirked at her.

After a quick pause he said, "I demonstrated to Minister Bones a few days ago that the prophecy does not necessarily indicate someone born of the thirty-first of July... or _thirtieth_ of July, since that's Lord Longbottom's birthday. I've now no doubt she's been running her own examples of what I explained to her and has worked out that the ' _born as the seventh month dies_ ' line can actually be used to describe approximately one hundred plus of the three hundred and sixty five days of the year."

"He did, and _I_ did," confirmed Bones, cutting in.

He added, "However, that's not the important line of the prophecy you all should have been considering."

"And what is?" the same witch demanded.

He grinned and replied, "The part of the line that states, ' _For neither can live while the other survives_ '."

She frowned and snapped, "And _how_ is that relevant?"

Still grinning he replied, "It means... Forgive my ignorance as to you identity, but I do not know how to address you."

"It's Lady Marchbanks," she replied. "Lady _Griselda_ Marchbanks."

With a small bow in her direction, he said, "Thank you, Lady Marchbanks." Then replied, "We may get to that in a moment, if you would. But, first, I take it you're the Griselda Marchbanks who is the Head of the WEA? The Wizarding Examinations Authority?"

"I am," she replied.

"Thank you," he said. "Everyone has seemed to be all accepting of Albus's interpretation of the prophecy. As you're the Head of the WEA and, if I remember correctly, even old enough to have been Albus's examiner for his OWLs and NEWTs when he was a student... Do you, perchance, recall what Albus's scores were for his OWLs and NEWTs in Divination? Do you recall when he attained his Mastery in Divination?"

That had a few Members, plus Dumbledore himself, shift a little uncomfortably.

Marchbanks smirked back and even gave him a little nod. "Albus Dumbledore does not hold a Mastery in Divination. He did not sit NEWTs for Divination. Nor did he even sit _OWLs_ for the subject."

As Marchbanks continued to stare and smirk at Harry, while Harry also stared at Marchbanks, he heard quite the susurration of upset Members and visitors rise around him.

"To the best of your knowledge, did Albus Dumbledore do any formal study of Divination, _at all_?" he demanded back.

"I fail to see how any of that is relevant!" snapped the old man.

No one paid him any attention, especially not Harry or Marchbanks.

With her smirk slightly widening into a grin, Marchbanks gave a single slow nod and replied, "Albus Dumbledore took Divination as an elective in his third year at Hogwarts. However, he dropped out of the subject after _three weeks_."

Harry gave a single explosive snort of stunned amusement, while their were a few quiet exclamations of shock from the Members and visitors, before he then started to scoff a little trying to suppress that amusement before he failed to contain it and left forth with a short round of laughter.

"Do you mean to tell me," he scoff/chuckled, looking about the Members, "That Albus Dumbledore... with only _three weeks_ of formal education in Divination... has been accepted by you all as an _expert_ in prophecies?"

That had quite a few scowl back in shame and anger at Harry for bringing that to light.

"Did not one of you," he continued. "Bother to even ask Lady Marchbanks... who sits as a Member with you... whether or not Albus Dumbledore was even _qualified_ to give an interpretation of a prophecy?"

Before anyone could respond, as he wasn't expecting them to, he openly laughed at them; which had even more scowls and looks of shame reflected back at him.

"You have an entire _department_ whose job is deal with prophecies," he snickered. "They will have within their ranks _Masters_ of Divination. Did not _one_ of you bother to even ask of _them_ their expert opinion?

"How... the Hell... do you justify to yourselves you have any qualification you're capable of _leading_ this great nation, when you _cannot_ even figure that out for yourselves?... And you've had _three years_ to do so!"

Again he received no response. After all, what could they say in response without coming across looking like even bigger idiots?

When he received no response after waiting long enough to receive one, he continued, "It's called the Department of Mysteries, by the way. And, part of their mandate is to answer for you such questions... _if you only think to ask!_ "

Not one of them said a word back when he again paused to see if they would respond.

When, after a long five to ten seconds, they didn't he looked back to Marchbanks and said, "Anyway, Madam Marchbanks. You were asking about the line, ' _For neither can live while the other survives_ '."

"Yes, Lord Peverell," she agreed.

"As I undertook an OWL in Divination," he replied, "I am, therefore, an even _greater_ expert in Divination than Albus Dumbledore. As you accept Albus Dumbledore to be an expert in prophecies with only three weeks of formal education in the subject under his belt, you can therefore accept me as a Grand Master of the subject." And grinned at them, especially her.

Before anyone could arc up, he continued, "For the line to actually make sense it means that the person who the prophecy foresaw as being Riddle's vanquisher had to be considered not alive."

That had a few gasps and muttering from most within the chamber.

"You'll need to explain that," said Marchbanks, otherwise ignoring the noise their 'discussion' had now generated.

"Actually, I'll probably need to _prove_ that," he gently corrected her. "And, for that, I'll need an Unspeakable with expertise in identification magics. Preferably one also with expertise in soul magics. Oh! And by _expertise_ I mean someone who has more than three weeks of formal education... just in case you were wondering."

Marchbanks ignored the verbal put down, looked to Ogden and said, "Chief Warlock, please summon one."

"Why bother?" asked Harry. "I've no doubt they'll be listening in on this session."

She muttered a bit under her breath, no doubt casting aspersions upon Harry, before she called in a clear voice, "Can we have at least one Unspeakable who has expertise in identification magics and soul-based magics, please?"

"Yes," said Ogden, clearly annoyed for having being ignored. "A suitable Unspeakable, please."

Just as Ogden said 'Please' an Unspeakable, with their hood up, suddenly appeared on the other side of Albus from Harry.

"You asked for me?" asked the Unspeakable before anyone could say anything.

Ogden scowled at the wo/man, even their gender was masked by the charms the person was wearing, for a moment before he gestured to Harry and said, "Please attend Lord Peverell. Apparently, he―"

"We heard," said the Unspeakable, cutting him off, before then turning to Harry. "Lord Peverell?"

Harry smirked at the... person for a moment before he said, "One moment, please." Then turned back to the Members.

"Since I have been back in magical Britain no one, except the goblins of Gringotts, have actually asked me my _name_ ," he explain. "I have been asked who I was, I have been asked how I'd like to be addressed, I've been asked if I can be addressed by the informal 'Hardwin'. However, I've not been asked _my actual name_.

"My first name _is_ Hardwin, I _am_ Lord Peverell and I _am_ Lord Potter. But people, including old Albus here, have been making erroneous assumptions about just what my name _is_. I, using Albus's verbal tricks, have been giving dissembling responses whenever I've been directly asked my identity.

"I have not lied, but I _have_ misled. I did it to hoist Albus upon his own petard. I felt it held a certain level of poetic justice... _For the Greater Good_!

"Who am I? I am someone this very body declared dead... thereby meeting the conditions of the prophecy of that line ' _For neither can live while the other survives_ '."

Then he turned to grin at the Unspeakable and, in a clear voice, said, "Unspeakable, please use your identification verification magics to determine my actual name and full identity."

The Unspeakable glanced once towards the Members before s/he walked around Dumbledore, drawing their wand as they came. Even Dumbledore remained quiet at this point. He also wanted to know.

With their wand out and held high, the Unspeakable paused a moment before s/he made a few intricate gestures over Harry; who stood there and let it happen.

After a long moment the Unspeakable paused in shock and said, " _Bloody Hell!_ "

Then there were a few more quick gestures before they stepped back, staring at Harry... and indicated by their body posture... in apparent shock.

" _Well?_ " demanded Ogden when the Unspeakable seemed shocked into immobility and too shocked to respond.

It took yet another moment before the Unspeakable gave a start, stepped back forward and cast what appeared to be the charm a third time. With a subtle slump of 'defeat' s/he turned to Ogden and, in a clear voice, said, "This is going to be difficult to believe; however, I've cast the charm three times and the results are confirmed."

Harry turned to grin at Ogden, who was still staring at the Unspeakable.

"Well?" demanded Ogden a second time. "Who is he, really?"

The Unspeakable paused a bare heartbeat before s/he replied, "He is... Lord Hardwin... Harry... James Potter, Lord of the House of Potter, Lord of the House of Peverell, Heir Presumptive of the House of Black. First and only born of James and Lily Potter. Born the thirty-first of July, 1980."

Harry expected there to be an immediate and great ruckus. However, he got the exact opposite; there was complete silence.

Flicking his hands open like a magician would do, he declared, " _Ta-daaaa!_ "

Then there was pandemonium.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

All around the British wizarding world there had been gasps of shock; mutters of 'Sweet Merlin!', 'Dear God' and similar quiet exclamations; some witches and even a couple of wizards had fainted; items held in hands were dropped; and similar. One very elderly wizard even died of a heart attack brought on by shock. No one noticed for more than a day, as he was in seclusion and living alone at the time.

At the Burrow, Ronald Weasley - who had snuck back inside to try and pilfer yet another wedge of pie - muttered, "Bloody Hell!" Ginny had frozen in place and Molly had fainted, dropping a dish as she did so.

At Hogwarts, there were similar reactions. In Flitwick's office, though - and after his own moment of shock - Flitwick muttered, "I _thought_ I recognised that voice."

" _How?!_ " Sprout gasped.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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In the visitors' tiers the journalists were now scribbling madly away, after first checking to ensure their dictaquills had caught _everything_. And, in the VIPs tiers, Luna was quietly giggling while she watched what was happening down on the floor before the Wizengamot, in the Wizengamot itself and keeping a close eye on Neville, sitting near her.

In reverse order: Neville Longbottom was gaping back at Harry with wide eyes and didn't appear to even be breathing; the Wizengamot were partly roaring out their displeasure, demanding to be heard, had fainted or were sitting in shock staring at Harry just as Neville was; and Harry... he had turned to grin at Luna for a moment, winked and turned back to watch the Wizengamot 'insanity'.

After a few moments of waiting for and watching the 'Mot to settle down, and their failing to do so, he turned to the Unspeakable and quietly asked, "Sooo... how's _your_ day been?"

Though he couldn't properly read the Unspeakable's expression due to the masking charms they used on their hoods, the slight snort of amusement he got back assured Harry the wo/man thought it was at least a little funny.

The Unspeakable hesitated a moment and then recast the same charm on him before giving a sigh and saying, "After this is done, we'll want to talk to you down in the D-oh-M."

"I'll check my schedule," Harry replied. "You do realise, don't you, that _eevvv_ -eryone is going to want to talk to me as soon as this, as you put it, is done?"

Another snort from the Unspeakable, this time more of a scoff, and s/he said, " _We're_ the Unspeakables, we take precedence."

Harry's smirk turned into one that could have been thought of as almost malicious. "Yes and no," he said. "Yes, you are the Unspeakables; and no, you do not take precedence."

When the Unspeakable again turned to look more fully towards him, Harry continued, "I will visit with the Unspeakables and tell you what I can about your... so called... 'Veil of Death' - it's proper name is the _Astra Porta_ , by the way - but there are other urgent matters I must attend to first."

The Unspeakable hesitated a moment before s/he quietly asked, "And _those_ would be?"

Harry hesitated a jot before he just as quietly replied, "One, making sure Dumbledore is taken from here by the ICW aurors to stand trial before the ICW; two, making sure these idiots..." and gave a slight heads tilt nod towards the Wizengamot, " _don't_ try to pin an Order of Merlin on me before they comply with _all_ of my five demands; three, go and apologise to Lord Longbottom for hexing his arse off with prank hexes back that day Dumbledore cast Fiendfyre in the Alley; and kiss my girlfriend as part-apology for coming clean on who I truly am before she said I should."

"You... do not wish to speak with the journalists?"

Harry gave his own scoffing snort and replied, " _Hell_ , no."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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Meanwhile, the Wizengamot had finally quietened down enough that Ogden only had to raise his voice slightly, due to the minor and permanent Sonorous charm on the Chief Warlock's seat, to be able to be heard.

"Aurors!" he barked. "As of this moment, anyone who makes _any_ noise other than myself, those I first call upon, Lord Peverell... Potter and Albus bloody Dumbledore are to be immediately removed from these chambers. And, yes, that does also include the Members of the Wizengamot!

"Even if they then subsequently shut up, they are still to be removed. _Am I clear_?"

"Yes, Sir!" called back the senior-most Auror, a Master Auror, as everyone immediately shut up. That man then looked to the other aurors and gave them each a nod.

Quickly, they began to fan out and keep a closer eye on both the Members and the 'guests', including the journalists.

Once he got that silence again, hopefully more permanently this time, Ogden turned to Harry again.

"Lord Peverell... Potter," he called.

Harry had to break off his quiet discussion with the Unspeakable to look back. "Yes?"

"How..." started Ogden before he quietly sighed. "We were led to believe that you had been magically banished through the Veil of Death during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. How is it you're alive?"

Harry smiled and replied, "What you call the Veil of Death is not what you think it is. It's actually called an Astra Porta. For those who don't know their ancient Latin, that means 'Star Gate'. It's also a great many years older than even the Unspeakables think it is.

"How I'm alive is that I believe I accidentally triggered its true purpose when I was knocked back through the event horizon that exists on the other side of that veil that hangs before it. My going through it, or something I did just as I passed through the curtain, activated the Gate; which, in turn, activated what the muggles refer to as a stable wormhole.

"I came out the other end and through a similar Gate a very, _very_ long way away from here.

"I was at that place for the past few years until I was found by a highly classified branch of the United States' muggle military and brought back through another Gate; a more modern one and one that is located in the United States. Sorry, but I cannot tell you where it is, or which part of the United States' military found me and brought me back."

"It... transported you to some other place?" asked Ogden.

"Yup," replied Harry. "And, sorry... if I told you where that was you'd _never_ believe me."

"Try us," demanded Ogden.

Harry grinned at him and said, "Very well. At night, look into the sky and look for the star constellation known as Canis Majoris. In that constellation, at where the dog's chest would be found, is found the second brightest star in the night sky. In reality, it's actually _two_ stars in what the muggles call a binary star configuration. They are Sirius A and Sirius B.

"Using _incredibly_ powerful telescopes the muggles across the world have deduced that the binary star system known collectively as Sirius is, in fact, 8.6 light years away. If you don't know how far a light year is, it's based on the time it takes for light to travel from one point to another.

"Further, the muggles figured out many decades ago that light travels at..." and took a slip of parchment out of one of his pockets to check his figures. "... 186,000 miles per _second_. Or, if you prefer, 671 _million_ miles per hour.

"Eight point six light years means that Sirius - the star, not my godfather - is approximately a little over... fifty and a half _trillion_ miles away from here. That's five zero five followed by _eleven_ zeroes."

Harry grinned even further as he looked back up.

Surprised he hadn't been interrupted and accused of lying yet, he continued and said, "Orbiting Sirius A is a planet where the gravity is five percent stronger than it is here on Earth. I was on that planet from the time I went through the _Astra Porta_ , the Star Gate, until late October this year when the muggle Americans found me and brought me back to Earth.

"Does that answer your question?" he sweetly asked.

There was a short pause before he was, indeed, accused of lying by angry voices of the Members.

Calmly, he simply drew his wand and held it in the oath position. As soon as many saw him draw it, they quickly shut up. Those Members, it seemed, had not yet forgotten he'd fought Riddle and thirteen of his best 'one-on-fourteen' and walked away victorious and, apparently, without a scratch.

When he raised his wand to cover his heart, he then loudly called, "I! Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter!..."

And that had the rest shut up.

"... Swear on my magics and my very life that from the night of the eighteenth of June, 1996, until the last days of October, 1999, I was residing on a planet orbiting the star known as Sirius A found in the night sky in the constellation known as Canis Majoris; and that I was finally rescued from that planet by a team of specialist muggle American military personnel, trained in using the Astra Porta system of Star Gates and travelling, as they call it, off-world. As I say, so I swear, so let me be judged by Lady Magic herself."

A moment later a great flash of magic rippled out from Harry and quickly faded away. It showed the oath 'took'.

In the again sudden quiet, Harry regripped his wand - correctly, this time - he gave the tip a flick off to the side and firmly, properly incanted, " _Expecto Patronum._ "

Patronus Prongs emerged from his wand tip and quickly canted around him, the Unspeakable, Dumbledore and even Riddle's body, looking for targets to attack. Not 'seeing' any, it trotted back to Harry passing through Riddle's body on the way to him; awaiting Harry's next order.

"The _next_ person who flat out calls me... or even _alludes_ to me being... a liar _will_ be facing me on the duelling piste," he firmly, almost snarlingly, stated. "I remind you that two days ago I duelled Riddle and his supposedly top thirteen minions one-on-fourteen in combat. I handily whipped their arses; so _you_ can expect not to live beyond a few moments of stepping onto the piste."

He gave that a long few moments to hang in the air before he turned his attention from the now frightened Members and to the Patronus. "Thank you, Prongs. You may go."

And the Patronus quickly faded away.

"Now," he said, ready to provide further proof. "First, if anyone knows what Harry Potter's Patronus is... was... speak now, please."

"A stag," called Sirius.

"Thank you, Lord Black," said Harry. "Yes. A stag. It's always been a stag. And I suspect it's a stag because my father's animagus form was that of a stag."

"That it was," said Sirius.

"Next," said Harry, reaching into an inside breast pocket of his robes. He pulled out an old pair of glasses, his old pair, and donned then. Then immediately doffed his hat.

Looking up at the Members he gave the same cocky grin he used to often wear at Hogwarts. And he could see that many of the Members recognised him from his so-called trial back in mid-August, 1995; even if it was through the now-fuzziness of the lenses of the glasses.

"And finally," he continued, removing the glasses again, as Members and even a few of the visitors quietly muttered to one another in surprise. He used his off-hand to push his fringe up and aside to let everyone see the remnants of his 'famous' scar. "My scar."

" _Harry_ , my boy!" Dumbledore suddenly called, exuding false bonhomie. "How _wonderful_ to see you again!"

" _Arrrrgh!_ " Harry exclaimed, leaping off to the side and away from the old man as if in sudden fear. A moment later he angrily snapped back, "Don't start, _Alby my boy!_

"For the past couple of weeks you've been claiming I'm a _dark_ wizard, all-but ready to join Tom Riddle and become his new right hand man. You, more than any other person here, have absolutely _no right_ to speak to me as if we're old friends. We're not."

As the old man looked away with yet another scowl, Harry ignored him again and turned back to Ogden. "As I have now proven beyond any logical or magical doubt I am Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, more commonly and often _disrespectfully_ known as Harry Potter - and Harry Potter was declared dead by this very body three years ago - the line in the prophecy ' _For neither can live while the other survives_ ' now makes more sense. Tom Riddle was... vanquished... by someone who was not considered alive.

"Now that I've 'offed' the bastard, I can allow my true identity to again become known; and, therefore, 'live' again. Through that, that particular part of the prophecy now comes true and makes sense."

Harry could see quite a few of the Members now nodding along. He breathed an internal sigh of relief that they'd bought it. That it was also the truth was besides the point when it came to witches and wizards. They would accept practically anything told them, even if it didn't make sense beyond a bare moment of logical thought.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Unknown to Harry, but suspected, was the number of people listening in who also found what he said made a great deal of sense. Subconsciously - and not so, in some cases - they were all now recognising that Dumbledore had misled them all.

Originally, the wireless was only supposed to have covered approximately a half hour of the Sitting, as the management of the WWN thought that would be all they'd need. However, the broadcast had now gone on for much longer than that and the same management had no intention of cutting their feed and going back to their scheduled broadcast. For one, they knew they'd find themselves lynched by the wizarding populace if they did so; and second, they knew they were currently experiencing the largest audience on record they'd ever had.

Ginny had finally woken her mother up and the two of them were again listening to the wireless and its live coverage of what was going on in the chamber. After again entering, Ronald had once again been banished from the kitchen. This time, after managing to snag _two_ more thick wedges of the pumpkin pie, he'd been chased out with stinging hexes by his mother - plus a few subtly cast ones from his sister.

Ginny was in tears, knowing she had no chance of ever getting 'Harry' back; not after the way she'd been part of the group that twice tried to capture him. And also now understood that 'her Neville' was definitely not the 'Chosen One', after all.

And Molly was in tears because she now understood she'd been duped by the old man right from the start. And was also in tears because she now understood that Harry was alive, after all, and was happy to learn that.

Similar was occurring right across magical Britain in workplaces and other homes.

Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn hadn't moved from Flitwick's office, but also knew they didn't have to. The house elves were monitoring the students and had reported that every single student was now also listening to the wireless. It was the calmest the school had been in years.

Instead Flitwick, while maintaining an ear to what was being reported on the wireless, was also writing down a list of actions he believed would need to be taken as soon as the broadcast was over. They included an immediate contact of someone on the school board to inform them they'd be immediately needing a new Headmaster/mistress, a new Deputy Headmaster/mistress if Minerva was charged over what had happened to Mis- _Lord_ Potter during his time as a student and how they'd handle other matters relating to the school and what had been brought to light during the broadcast.

Sprout and Slughorn had learned what he was doing and were occasionally offering their own advice.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With a sigh, Harry said, "Alright. I've now given you the list of five conditions you must meet for me to consider accepting the Order of Merlin for offing your dark lord for you."

That had quite a few more grumbles from the Members, but he ignored them.

"I now add a sixth... that Albus Dumbledore must also be immediately handed over to the ICW's aurors for him to stand trial before the ICW for his crimes," he added. "I expect that to occur before night falls tonight."

" _No!_ " cried Albus. " _I will_ not _allow it!_ "

Harry tagged him with a quietly cast silencing charm. " _Zip_... Shuddup, Albus."

Turning back to the Wizengamot he added, "In the meantime... you people have work to do. I'll leave you to it."

Turning to Bones he said, "Minister, please inform whoever it is that heads the DMLE at this time that I will ready for them a rack of vials which will contain my memories of all the things I have spoken about and concerning my days as a pre-schooler, while as a student at Hogwarts and during the breaks between terms. Further, I will provide memories of my time on Hadrian, the planet I mentioned that orbits Sirius A, as I believe it just _may_ become significantly important in the future."

When she gave a nod back, he gave her a nod of his own, spun about and walked out of the chamber without a single look back. No one attempted to stop him.

As soon as he stepped out the doors leading into the chamber, he quickly donned his invisibility cloak and quietly made his way to the atrium; and flooed back to Grimmauld Place.

He was mentally exhausted, now had a sore throat from speaking so much - with his aborted attempt to sing adding to that - and needed a nap.

He knew Sirius and Remus would keep a watch over Luna and the three would make it back as soon as they could.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Back in the Chamber and as Harry walked out the main doors, Sirius stood and called, "Chief Warlock."

It was a long moment before Ogden almost wearily turned his eyes to him. "Lord Black?"

"Relating to the issues raised by Lord Peverell-Potter, I have a number of emergency motions to put to this body."

Ogden almost subtly winced, sighed and repeated, "Lord Black?"

"First motion," said Sirius. "I move that Albus Dumbledore be held by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement... _in shackles and in a holding cell_... until such time as he will be collected by representatives of law enforcement of the ICW to stand trial before them for the crimes of... including, but not necessarily limited to... those related to fraud, embezzlement and the harbouring of a legally recognised dark lord."

" _Now see here!_ " exclaimed Dumbledore.

Though he'd clearly wandlessly broken through Harry's lightly cast silencing charm, he was still ignored by all but a few. And one of the few _wasn't_ the Chief Warlock.

"Accepted," Ogden firmly stated. "Do I have a seconder?"

Over a dozen people immediately stood; with others starting to rise or going to stand, but seeing it wasn't necessary, again sitting. At the same time, one of the aurors stepped forward and reapplied the silencing charm. This time, it was much stronger.

"Seconded by Lord Greengrass," declared Ogden. "Do you wish to speak to your motion, Lord Black?"

"Yup!" Sirius cheekily returned before beginning to speak in support of his own motion.

The meeting then got down to the nitty-gritty of what they knew they needed to accomplish... whether they liked it or not.

Immediately after the first passed, two ICW aurors appeared on the floor from dispelled Notice-Me-Not charms and doffed invisibility cloaks. They'd be taking Dumbledore right from there to the ICW. And had the written documentation on them to authorise exactly that.

Once they'd gone again, this time with Dumbledore remanacled with ICW manacles and between them, Sirius rose for his second motion. It was to ensure that Hardwin James Potter, now Lord Hardwin James _Peverell-_ Potter, was _un_ -declared dead and the Declaration of Death certificate be rescinded.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was two hours later and well past lunch before Sirius, Remus and Luna returned to Grimmauld.

Luna immediately went upstairs and woke Harry, who was taking his nap.

Re-dressing, but a lot more casually, Harry went down to the welcoming room. There, he met with Sirius and Remus.

"How did it go after I left?" he immediately asked before they could say anything.

Sirius was grinning at him. "As soon as you left I moved a motion for Dumbles to remain in auror custody until he could be collected by ICW aurors. However, as soon as the motion passed... which it, of course, would... two ICW aurors, who'd been on the floor and under invisibility cloaks and hiding charms at the time, removed them and said they'd be taking him right then and there.

"They did, too," said Remus. "After Bones confirmed they were who they said they were and verified their written authorisations, Albus had to be dragged out of the chamber while claiming he had important information wizarding Britain needed to know before he was taken away. He was ignored by even the ICW aurors, who just dragged him from the chamber in their own magic-inhibiting manacles."

"That would be information relating to the Horcruxes," said Luna. "Dumbledore still doesn't know they've all been collected and destroyed."

"The ICW will dose him with Veritaserum and get it out of him," said Sirius. "I'll have to let Amelia know about them and provide her proof they've all been destroyed before the ICW contact her, once they get that information... which I've no doubt they will... out of the old man."

Harry nodded and said, "And you can tell her that the one that was in my scar was destroyed when I went through the Astra Porta. I think Dumbledore probably knew about it, which is―"

"He did," Luna firmly interrupted. "He also did not believe it could be removed without your death."

Harry shrugged and said, "Well, as long as no one believes the old bastard I don't care. He'll be silenced forever, soon enough.

"What else happened?" he pressed.

"Next, I had you un-declared dead," he replied. "That way, your legal identity will be re-established.

"Next and as you wanted, they stripped Fudge of his Order of Merlin; but they can't strip Dumbledore of his, because it was awarded by the ICW. However, by direct order of the Wizengamot, they've sent along their 'demand' the _ICW_ strip it from him.

"Not that it was needed, I suppose. I can't see the ICW not stripping it from him before they execute him.

"The 'Mot have also chosen to wait until they have evidence from you, via certified pensieve memories, before they award you an Order of Merlin for facing and killing the basilisk; but _will_ be awarding you your rightful one for killing Riddle back in October eighty-one. The same for the evidence relating to the Order of Merlin, Third Class, awarded to Lockhart.

"And they went ahead and voted to award you an Order of Merlin, First Class, for killing Riddle this time, but it's worded so they can't force you to accept it; just made it so it's automatic if you state you will."

Luna clarified, "That's _three_ Orders of Merlin, First Class, you're due to receive, Harry."

"They haven't decided if the Order of Merlin for killing the basilisk will be a Second or First Class, Luna," said Remus.

"Once they see the memory, it'll be a First Class," Luna assured them.

"Internationally," said Sirius. "There's only been one person who has ever received multiple Orders of Merlin, First Class; and that was two and was a couple centuries ago. You, Harry, will be the only person who will have ever received three of them."

Harry gave a snort and said, "And I'm not even twenty-one years old yet. In some parts of the world I'd not yet be considered even an adult."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The rest of the day, after a late lunch quickly prepared by Dobby, was spent in quiet discussion about how well Harry's prank had worked and what they'd need to do next.

It was during a quiet moment that owls started arriving, all addressed to Harry in various forms of his name from simply 'Harry Potter' all the way up to Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter (and even a Lord Harry Potter-Peverell).

Many of the first were about apologising to him and or welcoming him back. However, a great many of the others were abusive for reasons that included destroying Dumbledore, 'the dark lord' (Voldemort), 'stealing' the title of 'Chosen One' from Longbottom and a few others. Even worse, some of them were loaded with harmful curses, illegal auto-portkeys, impregnated with potions and similar. And one even came with a proposed betrothal contract for some young witch Harry had never even heard of... at least, he hoped she was at least young.

Before even a dozen owls had arrived, Sirius was already on the floo to the aurors to explain to them what was going on. After he disconnected he was immediately back-contacted by Acting Director Proudfoot who, due to how busy they still were, suggested he ask the goblins for help.

Sirius thanked the man for the suggestion, apologised to him for knowing he was quite busy and immediately did as suggested; he contacted the goblins.

Once contacted, the goblins near-immediately sent one of their best warders through, who erected a hasty mail-redirection ward with promises a more permanent one would be erected within the day. The goblin explained it was because Harry was now considered a 'Hero of Gringotts'.

The owls were now all, with a few exceptions based on sender, redirected to Gringotts. Once there, it would all be recorded as to who sent it; if there were any illegal/illicit charms, potions or the like included; the identity of any and all magical signatures involved; stripped of all such; and sent on, as Gringotts was automatically one of the 'approved' senders.

The townhouse breathed a sigh of relief for about two hours before the mail all started to arrive again, this time via Gringotts' owls in bundles. When the mail arrived it was contained inside a package from Gringotts, with a covering letter informing Lord Peverell-Potter of what, if any, magics had been included in the originals.

Harry was, of course, furious; not at the Goblins, but at those who had the audacity to actually try something like that on him. It reminded him of what befell Hermione in February of their fourth year at Hogwarts.

He immediately started drafting vituperate responses, threatening the sender with severe harm, until Luna took what he was writing away from him and told him to stop. "At this rate, Harry, you're going to end up making enemies of all the families of all those you end up having to kill," she firmly said. "Let Sirius draft the replies and you just sign them."

"Damn fine idea," Sirius cut in, having just read one of Harry's 'proposed' responses.

"Well," huffed Harry. "I'm not letting them get away with this."

"We won't be," she said. "How about, instead of writing angry reply letters, you write up a letter to the Editor of the _Daily Prophet_ about all this."

He thought a bit, gave a nod and said, " _That_... I can definitely do."

"And we'll make the necessary changes to it before you send it," she added.

He scowled at her a little before he asked, "You don't trust me?"

"I don't trust you to not think nothing of killing every single one of the idiots who've done this while you're in this mood," she returned.

Remus said, "This needs to be carefully handled, Harry. Wouldn't you rather see all these idiots paying for their crimes through the courts, than again be seen as an up-and-coming dark lord?"

Harry gave another huff of annoyance and grumbled, " _Fiiiinnne!_ "

Then he pulled another sheet of parchment towards himself as he began to try and get his temper under control enough to write a letter for the _Prophet_ that didn't promise swift and brutal, personally delivered, repercussions for those who'd gotten up to mischief.

"Actually, on second thought, start with writing a draft thank you note to those who actually wrote nice things," said Luna. "Something generic that can be magically copied as a form letter. That way, you'll be able to set aside your anger before you write to the _Daily Prophet_."

With a sigh, he decided not to argue and to do that instead.

That activity occupied the rest of their night until they went to bed. Harry only had to rewrite his form letter letter twice and his letter to the editor of the _Daily Prophet_ four times before the other three declared both well-written and had him sign them. Dobby personally delivered the one for the _Daily Prophet_ to ensure it arrived in time.

Meanwhile, owls kept arriving until nearly eleven o'clock when Sirius used the house wards to block them, bar Hedwig, from even entering the property. They'd deal with all those that turned up during the late night and early morning the next morning after breakfast.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning's _Daily Prophet_ was a 'bumper' issue, with everything that happened at the Wizengamot the previous morning. Harry wondered why they'd bothered, what with the apparent listening audience of the WWN being nearly every witch and wizard in magical Britain.

He didn't realise he'd asked that out loud until Luna replied, "One, not everyone had the ability to listen to the WWN; many were at work and couldn't listen in, or simply don't own a wireless set. Two, the WWN could only be listened to by those in magical Britain; the _Daily Prophet_ is delivered right across the wizarding world, including into places not even part of the ICW-recognised countries. And, three, some people need to _read_ important information; because they were either distracted or unable to properly absorb the information given aurally into their memories."

"Hunh!" he quietly exclaimed. "That makes a lot of sense. Thank you, Luna."

She just gave a nod back as she was working on other letters for Harry. She was working on writing the response letters to those who had employed underhanded tactics, but hadn't actually crossed the line into breaking the law. The abuse letters would be responded to with a stern warning of consequences of upsetting a Lord of two Noble Houses; and that warning included how there would be no more warnings in future. Such writers were informed their names were now on an 'Already Been Warned' list.

Because Harry managed to write the letter to the editor of the _Prophet_ and send it out early enough, it too appeared in that edition of the newsparchment. He was just thankful that, although it was rewritten to be as if he was being interviewed by a Prophet journalist, it was otherwise accurate; including how he would 'come down hard' on anyone foolish enough to try and attack him 'even via the post'.

"Thank Merlin, we did," said Sirius. "I shudder to think how bad all this mail would have gotten if it wasn't included in this edition."

The other three could only agree.

The household, with the exception of Tonks who had yet another long day working as an auror, settled down to try and get as many of the letters that needed to be written, written. The entire day was filled with that, with the only breaks being for short periods of getting up to exercise and massaging aching quill-hands.

Thankfully, almost all the offensive mail stopped no later than late morning. Obviously Harry's 'interview' was clear enough to anyone who thought they could send him abusive/offensive/illegally-charmed mail and get away with it. That the letter included how it was all being redirected to the Gringotts first to have recorded exactly what shenanigans people tried through the mail, might have also had something to do with it.

That didn't stop the congratulatory/thankyou mail, though. That, they still received. However, for almost all of it, they could send the form letter.

It was that evening Sirius received his own owl; and it wasn't a Gringotts owl.

Checking it for harmful potions and magics first, he relieved the owl of its letter and quickly had it in hand.

"It's from Cousin Narcissa," he said.

"Remember my words, Sirius," Luna immediately said.

Sirius gave a small grimace before he gave a nod and carefully opened the letter.

After reading it, he said, "She's just been released from hospital and is at the Leaky. She claims she needs an urgent word."

"She can't go home," said Luna. "When Harry claimed the manor under prædātum and altered the wards, he blocked her from going there. She has nowhere else to go.

"You'll need to arrange someplace for her to stay; unless, of course, you're willing to allow her to go back to the now ex-Malfoy Manor.

"I'd recommend allowing her to use one of the minor Black... or other recently inherited... properties, for now."

Sirius, though clearly unwelcome of allowing her to do that, finally slumped in a sigh and said, "I'll find her somewhere she can stay."

"Good boy," said Luna. "Don't forget to allow her command of a house elf. She lacks the skills necessary to take care of herself."

He turned a wry grin on her and asked, "Any suggestions?"

Obviously not surprised about the question, or that Sirius asked it, she replied, "Let her have use of the Rosier manor, for now. With the death of both Lucius and Draco, you have prior claim to it. Go see your Gringotts Account Manager about it."

Surprised, Sirius asked, "I own the Rosier manor?"

"Yes," she replied. "Malfoy inherited it when the last of the Rosiers died. And you inherited it when both male Malfoys died."

Harry laughed at the look of shock on his godfather's face.

Sirius headed out a half hour later after first changing into a suitable set of robes for the Lord of House Black.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When Sirius returned to Grimmauld, he was clearly a lot more relaxed.

Upon seeing him, Harry asked, "How did it go?"

Sitting at the kitchen table the household were still gathered around, Sirius asked Dobby to provide him a cup of tea before he replied, "She's unmarked, for a start. As Luna said, she does not bear the Dark Mark.

"Once I confirmed myself of that, I took her down to Gringotts to speak with Lockjaw, the Black account manager.

"Between us I found out just how much, through Harry taking out Riddle's Inner Circle, I managed to inherit. It's a _lot_. Plus, as Luna said, one of the properties was Rosier manor.

"I took Cissy there to check the place out.

"Once I formally claimed the property, I then asked her if she was willing to stay there until I sorted things out. Thankfully, she was. An ex-Rosier house elf was available to her, already there."

Then he turned his attention more fully to Harry and said, "I need you to adjust the wards on her old place so I can take her there. She needs to recover what she needs... clothing, toiletries, things like that."

Harry gave a nod and, as he stood, said, "Then we best go about doing that right now. I can also use the opportunity to hand the wards of the place over to you."

Giving a wry look to the cup of tea he'd only just managed to take a sip from, Sirius nodded and also stood.

Harry went through the floo first to Diagon Alley and then apparated directly into the manor's Head of House office. He quickly had the wards adjusted to allow Sirius in via the floo, then sent him a messenger Patronus. Sirius arrived only twenty seconds later.

A quick hand-off of the wards, a temporary addition of Narcissa Black - Sirius had 'accepted' her back into House Black and ended the line of Malfoy - and both returned to Grimmauld.

Then, as Harry headed back to Grimmauld, Sirius headed back out to speak with Narcissa and take her to go and get her personal effects.

He return again a little over half an hour later.

"All good?" asked Luna.

"All good," he replied. "She's now settled into Rosier manor for now."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning and while they were sitting for breakfast, they were 'visited' by a messenger Patronus of a puma. " _Lord Black. I am ICW Master Auror McCutcheon. I and my partner, ICW Senior Auror Wong, are currently outside your Grimmauld property and need you to let us in._ " The voice had an Australian accent.

Just as the first one finished its message, a second one bounded into the room through the wall and stopped alongside the first as it was fading away. " _Our location magics have informed us there are certain very dark artefacts on your property we urgently need to collect._ "

Then a third one bounded into the room through the wall and stopped alongside the second as it, too, faded away. " _We also assure you that you are not at risk of arrest if we can quickly acquire these items and dispose of them._ _We ask of you your urgent attendance._ "

" _That_ would have taken a fair bit of power," said Remus, staring at and watching the third messenger Patronus fade away. "To be able to cast three in succession like that, I mean."

Sirius gave a grunt of acknowledgement and started to rise. "I'd best go let them in."

"They're here for the Horcruxes," said Luna.

Sirius paused a moment to look back at her before he gave a nod and said, "Then, once I confirm their identities, I'd best let them in."

Remus rose and said, "I'll be right behind you; as your backup."

Sirius just gave a nod and both men left the room.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Less than a minute later Sirius led in two men, who were wearing matching combat-based uniforms, into the kitchen. One was a solid blonde-haired blue-eyed man with metal framed glasses in what appeared to be a very slight prescription. The second was a slighter, clearly Asian, man with the normal black hair and brown, slightly pinched eyes of that race.

"Harry, Luna; this is ICW Master Auror McCutcheon and ICW Senior Auror Wong," explained Sirius. "Harry, Master Auror McCutcheon needs to examine the site of your scar."

Harry gave a nod, stood and turned towards the master auror. "Master Auror," he quietly said, holding his arms slightly away from his sides.

The invitation was obvious.

The master auror calmly walked forward, drawing his wand as he came, with a slight frown on his face.

At a little over an arm's reach distance from Harry he carefully raised his wand and cast smooth, but deliberate, gestures over Harry's forehead.

Harry felt a very light prickle from the scar, but that was it.

The auror then stepped back, lowering his wand and gave a slight bow. "Thank you, Lord Peverell-Potter. That was all I needed."

"Let me guess," said Harry, a little snarkily. "Albus Above-the-Law Dumbledore, the Great Dissembler, has coughed up under magical vow or Veritaserum that he... _knows_... that I am a Horcrux and, therefore, have to die in order for Voldemort to be vanquished for good. Yes?"

The master auror smirked back and said, "Under Veritaserum, while also under Legilimency, yes. And, yes, he said something to that effect."

Harry gave a nod and said, "From what I can figure out, there _was_ a sliver of Riddle's soul behind my scar; right up until I went through the Astra Porta. Something in the wormhole ripped it right out as I was travelling between worlds."

"A sliver of soul, yes," said the Auror. "But not a Horcrux. It was a very slight ongoing attempted possession that had no power to do anything but cause you some mental problems and rob you of a bit of your magic to sustain it."

The way he made that last statement was clearly a question. Harry gave a nod back. "I used to have anger management and concentration issues. They stopped after I went through the Astra Porta."

The auror acted as if that didn't surprise him. Then he turned to his partner and the two stared at one another for a long moment before the master turned back and said to them all. "That's all we needed. Thank you for your time."

"Since I see Dumbledore as my current greatest threat," said Harry, "Can you share with us as to his fate?"

The master auror only looked back for a slightly hesitated moment before he said, "It'll be public soon enough. Your Minister has already been informed.

"Albus Dumbledore, after being tried for his crimes... which included harbouring a recognised dark lord and after first having his credentials and Order of Merlin stripped from him... was executed at dawn this morning, Geneva time. Geneva is one hour ahead of London."

Harry breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you."

The auror only gave a single head shake back before he returned, "No. Thank _you_ for letting us know the truth as to the crimes he committed against the wizarding world."

When they left, with Sirius escorting them out and returning, Luna quietly said, "They weren't aurors. They were Unspeakables."

Harry smirked back and said, "I guessed that, too."

"Oh?" asked Remus.

"They wouldn't have sent aurors to deal with the Horcruxes," said Harry. "They'd have sent Unspeakables. Ergo, they were actually Unspeakables masquerading as aurors."

"They were using wandless Legilimency on each other, too," said Sirius, as unsurprised as Harry about Luna's quiet remark concerning their identity. "That's an Unspeakable thing I know they do. Aurors don't do that; not even ICW aurors."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With Dumbledore now confirmed to no longer be a threat to him and his, Harry was more comfortable with venturing out and about as 'Harry Potter' again. However, when he raised just that with Sirius, his godfather said, "I'd give it another day, Hardwin... Harry."

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"The mail redirection ward is only on this property," explained Sirius. "As soon as you step out from under them, owls will again home in on you to deliver their mail."

Harry frowned back and softly said, "Damn."

He thought about it for a long moment before he turned a grin on Luna... and waggled his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes and gave a huff of amusement. "Actually, you _can_ step out from under the wards... just so long as I first cast upon you an owl avoidance charm. It'll mean owls won't deliver _at all_ while the charm is on you, but I can strip the charm away again once we return here."

On one hand, Harry was happy he wouldn't be again cooped-up in Grimmauld Place - this time until the owl mail dropped off again - but on the other, he was a little frustrated Luna had so easily dodged having to 'entertain' him for the day.

"You need to get out and about before tomorrow morning," she explained. "I know you don't like the attention, but people are going to need to see you for themselves before they're informed Dumbledore was executed this morning."

Harry groaned and said, "I'm going to have to 'play nice' with all the well-wishers, aren't I?"

"Yes," she firmly replied. "Better now than after they find out about Dumbledore."

With a sigh, he lowly muttered, " _Fiiiiiinnnee!_ "

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Discussing matters while they were getting changed, Luna suggested they start with the Leaky Cauldron.

"It's somewhere that's both public and not out in the open," she explained. "Give the patrons a chance to thank you before we then move out into the Alley."

Harry gave a nod and, though his tone and inflection showed he wasn't happy with it, he replied, "Sounds good."

"Out in the Alley we'll spend the time wandering," she continued, ignoring Harry's tone. "There's some things I need to pick up, someone we need to 'bump into' and I think we'll also see something we might like."

"Alright," he sighed.

"You'll need to do your best to be magnanimous, Harry," she said. "Oh; and no losing your temper with Rita Skeeter, either."

He winced. "I take it we're going to 'bump into' her, as well?"

"Of course," she returned. "But, that's because Rita has informants in the Alley who will immediately let her know you're there, as soon as we make an appearance in the Leaky. There's no avoiding that."

Harry frowned in annoyance.

Continuing, she said, "After that, I think it would be a good idea to go and see Professor Flitwick."

Harry thought about it only for a long moment before he said, "Actually, going and seeing him... and telling Professor McGonagall I do not hold her to blame for what happened while I was a student... is something I'm happy to do."

After changing into upmarket 'casual' robes that displayed both the Potter and Peverell crests in small detail, rather than the larger crests displayed on formal occasions, Harry only had to wait a further twenty minutes for Luna to finish getting ready. His robes, while casual in appearance, still had him combat ready, if he needed to act.

Once Luna was ready, with both Sirius and Remus admonishing them to stay safe and be careful, they headed out via floo to the Leaky Cauldron.

This time Luna led the way, with Harry on her heels.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	18. Paying Long Overdue Visits

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Eighteen - Paying Long Overdue Visits**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Stepping out of the floo and into the Leaky Cauldron, Harry noticed it took his sudden appearance a long few moments before someone exclaimed, " _Look_! It's _Harry Potter_!"

That had people suddenly spinning around to look, for those with their backs to the floo, or simply looking up, for those who weren't; as Harry and Luna calmly walked from the floo and toward old Tom's bar. Old Tom, himself, was watching them come in shock.

"That's, _Lord Hardwin Peverell-Potter_ ," Harry snapped back, not breaking stride in the least. "Mind your manners."

Of course, Harry only made it about two-thirds of the way to the bar before he was practically swamped with witches and wizards, young and old, coming forward to, at the very least, simply touch him. Most, of course, wanted to speak with him.

"Mister Potter!" exclaimed one half-drunk patron, breathing fumes of alcohol almost directly into Harry's face as he stuck both his hands out in a gesture to two-hand handshake Harry's hand.

"It's Lord _Peverell_ -Potter," Harry firmly and with a clear carrying voice, returned. But he did take the man's hand to shake it. "Please be respectful."

The man blushed slightly as he took his hands back. "M-my apologies, Lord Peverell-Potter," he softly returned.

He was soon lost in the crowd as others came forward.

"Blessed be!" exclaimed another, an older witch. "It _is_ Harry Potter!"

" _Lord Peverell-Potter!_ " Harry snapped back, giving the witch a short glare.

She gave a start of shock as she hurried to take a step back. However, she didn't get very far before she bumped into someone else coming forward from the now small crowd that had started to gather around him.

"Harry!" exclaimed Luna.

Harry spun around to see Luna was being unintentionally forced away from him.

Glaring at the crowd that had begun to close the ever-widening gap between he and Luna, Harry stepped through it, determinedly pushing people out of the way as he did so.

He was quickly to her side and pulled her in close.

"How _dare_ you people lay hands on or jostle the witch I foresee as the next Lady of my Houses!" he barked, glaring around.

That had the crowd hurriedly backing off a pace or two in shock and fear.

"I see the populace of wizarding Britain has _still_ not regained the respect they should show one another," he angrily stated. "Learn some _manners_ , people!"

Once he could see the shame ripple through them, he said, "Now, I don't mind you coming forward to thank me or congratulate me; but you _will_ be respectful and polite!"

"Well said," said an older wizard. Like Harry, he was wearing a small Head of House patch on his upmarket casual robes. He sported one to Harry's two.

Harry looked back and said, "Sorry. I do not believe I've had the pleasure." And offered his hand to shake.

The man gave him a wry smile back and took his hand. "Lord Smith, Lord Peverell-Potter. I was in the Wizengamot when you gave us all that little show."

Harry grinned back and said, "I hope it was entertaining for you?"

Smith chuckled and replied, "Indeed."

That seemed to be it for the patience of the crowd. They again came forward to touch/thank/congratulate him. At least this time they were more courteous and respectful; and weren't so demanding of him.

Once the last had shaken his hand and or said their piece, they moved away. That's when Harry noticed that Smith had disappeared from the room.

With a quiet sigh, he looked down to Luna and asked, "Ready for the Alley, now?"

Still tucked under his arm, she only had to look up slightly before she quietly replied, "Yes, Harry. Let's get it done."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The two had only just passed through the still opening arch between the Leaky and the Alley when they were 'accosted' by Skeeter. Apparently, she'd awaited them right where the arch was.

"Lord Peverell-Potter," she gushed. "How _wonderful_ to see you again."

"Miss Skeeter," he gave her a nod and went to move past her.

However, he'd only just started to move when she immediately jumped back in front of him and said, "I wonder if you'd be willing to provide an interview..."

"I _gave_ you one, Miss Skeeter," he returned. "Today is about my girlfriend and I taking a stroll down Diagon Alley to carry out a little shopping."

Then he moved to step past her again, before she once more quickly jumped in front of him.

"Yes, Lord Peverell-Potter," she less gushed and more firmly said. "However, a lot has happened since that day. And the public has a right to know just what―"

His sudden bark of laughter shut her up in the middle of her sentence.

"The right to _know_?!" he scoffed. "Miss Skeeter, I don't know what _dragon_ shit you think you know is the truth; but, I assure you, the belief the public has a right to know only applies to what goes on _in the Ministry_. The public most certainly has _no_ right to know about me and my private life; it's _private_.

"Now, step in front of me again and I'll accept that you are trying to _hinder_ me in my freedoms. As such, I'll put you down. Understand?"

Then, before she could respond, he again started to step around her. This time he held his nearest arm to her up to shield her from again trying to step in front of him.

She did try, but his arm held her off. And he used it to force her back out of his way while using her body as leverage to move past. His greater strength and height advantage was more than enough to accomplish it. Once he did he dropped his arm again.

As he and Luna finally slipped past, he said over his shoulder, "Stay out of my way, Miss Skeeter. You're beginning to really annoy me. Remember... _squish!_ "

He didn't wait for the witch to respond, but she didn't try to waylay him again either.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once finally free of the nosy witch, Harry and Luna only managed to make it a few more steps before others started to come forward with their own well-wishes. Knowing that if he stopped he'd end up being in the alley a great deal longer than he wanted to be, Harry kept them both moving as they made their way towards the bank.

As others approached, Harry would merely give a greeting back or, when he couldn't avoid it, shake the witch or wizard's hand while continuing to walk forward. It cause them to either drop their hand quickly or start to be dragged along. None, but one wizard, tried. That wizard got dragged a couple of paces before he finally pulled his hand back.

Out of all those who were in the Alley, only a couple were either clear Dumbledore or Riddle worshippers. None tried to attack, but one - a Dumbledore worshipper - called him a dark wizard out loud. Harry ignored him; especially when he saw a middle aged witch lay into the man with her large 'carpetbag' purse, while calling him all sorts of names.

Luna giggled at the antics of both.

Harry only spent enough time in the bank, making sure his accounts were still up-to-snuff and to withdraw more galleons and converting some to muggle currency, before both again exited.

However, before they did, Harry halted them both and wryly asked, "I'm not going to be ambushed by Dumbledore's Order of the Oddball Occamies again, am I?"

Luna lightly laughed and said, "No. What members there still are, are now keeping their heads down and staying out of public areas. Almost all of them because they now know and understand Dumbledore wasn't the big hero everyone thought him to be. And they're ashamed they fell for his machinations."

With a nod back, they exited the bank. Harry still kept a wary eye out, though, looking for trouble.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As the two started to head back up the Alley, the crowds again started to come forward and, just as on their way down the Alley towards the bank, Harry kept them both in motion so they wouldn't be blocked from moving forward. Those who came at him face-on were firmly directed to the side as he shook hands with them, so he and Luna wouldn't be stopped. It was easy to see they'd be getting no shopping down in the Alley, that day; so now planned on heading directly to Hogwarts.

It was when they were about halfway back to the Leaky that Harry spotted someone he well-remembered - Neville Longbottom.

The now young man seemed to be of two minds whether to approach or not, but Harry saw him square up his shoulders and decide to do so.

This time, Harry stopped just as Longbottom drew close.

"Lord Longbottom," said Harry, giving the man a slight head nod of one equal to another. "I hope you've already forgiven me for hitting you with all those prank charms when last we met."

Clearly surprised, Longbottom was a moment before he returned the nod, stepped closer and offered his hand as a handshake. "Of course, Lord Peverell-Potter. I understand why you did it, too."

"Yes," returned Harry, giving a firm and quick shake of hands. "I was using the opportunity, the only way I could with Dumbledore being a bastard, to show you something you needed to learn about."

"Yeah," the other replied, giving a sheepish grin back. "I'd've been toast if Vol- _Riddle_ ever decided to stop running from me."

"You know why he didn't, don't you?" asked Harry.

"The prophecy," sighed Longbottom. "He couldn't afford he or one of his minions accidentally marking me."

Harry nodded. "It is my belief Dumbledore made sure Riddle knew of the entirety of the prophecy in order to give him time to get you in a position to face him... Riddle, I mean."

Longbottom seemed to think for a moment before he said, "I now think so, too. Thank you for making it so that I'll _never_ have to face him."

Harry smiled and returned, "You're welcome."

He'd been worried Longbottom was going to become a thorn in his side, claiming Harry stole his chance to 'kill a dark lord'. However, it appeared Longbottom was actually relieved, if not grateful.

"Now that _that_ particular Sword of Damocles is no longer hanging over your head," said Harry. "What do you plan to do with your life?"

"Finally seeing my dream become a reality," Longbottom grinned. "I'm finally going to be able to get that apprenticeship in Herbology I wanted, but Dumbledore denied me."

"Good for you!" declared Harry. "All of us back in Hogwarts already knew, but I think you're going to make a _smashing_ Herbologist.

"What about a love life? I certainly hope you have no intention of chasing after the Weaslette."

"No," Neville suddenly scowled. "I know she worked hard to be seen as my girlfriend and the future Lady Longbottom; but that position, in my mind, has always already been filled by Hannah Abbott."

Then he grinned and said, "I'm actually on my way to the see the Longbottom account manager at Gringotts to pick up the Longbottom betrothal rings. I intend taking them in to our family's jeweller to have them reconditioned. I believe I'll be needing them very soon."

Harry grinned back and said, "Then _congrats_ , Lord Longbottom. Or, I suppose, _pre_ -congratulations."

Harry saw the old Neville for a moment there, when the other boy gave a slight and almost embarrassed smirk back and quietly replied, "Thank you."

"Well, must be off," said Harry. "I think I'd like to give a surprise visit to my old alma mater, good old Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts, to speak with some of the staff."

Surprised, Longbottom said, "What about Dumbledore? I take it you don't want to bump into him?"

"He won't be there," said Harry. "I've already been informed that, after he was officially and formally interrogated under the effects of Veritaserum while also having a Master Legilmencer working on him, he's already stood trial before the ICW into matters raised in the Wizengamot the other day; plus a few other matters, I believe. Under Veritaserum... which, as you'd know, meant he couldn't lie... he confessed and was found guilty of all charges, including the one about the harbouring of a dark lord."

That had quite a few of the dwellers in the Alley, who had all been quietly listening-in, give gasps and mutters of surprise. Harry ignored them. Longbottom just gave a slight expression of surprise, though it didn't look like it surprised him all that much and then confirmed it with what he said next.

"I _seeee_..." he quietly said. "I'm not that surprised, though."

"I believe Minister Bones will be making a public announcement about that, some time today," said Harry. "You might want to keep a weather ear on the wireless or grab a copy of tomorrow's _Daily Prophet_."

"I thank you for the suggestion, Lord Potter," said Neville.

"You're welcome, Lord Longbottom," said Harry. "Anyways, must be off. Places to be, people to see."

Neville gave a single nod back and said, "Take care, Lord Peverell-Potter."

"And you, Lord Longbottom."

Just after the two then passed one another, Harry glanced to Luna and asked, "Hogwarts?"

"You've 'pressed the flesh' in the Alley enough," she quietly returned. "Let's go to Hogwarts."

Harry gave a nod. They simply headed back to the Leaky to use the public floo to floo-call Professor Flitwick.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After finally getting back to the Leaky Cauldron, after yet again trying to wade through all the well-wishers who had regathered once they and Neville separated, Luna led the way to the floo.

She dashed in a pinch of the available floo powder and called "Hogwarts, Charms Office!" Then knelt and stuck her head within the green flames.

It was only about a minute before she withdrew and turned to Harry. "Professor Flitwick's inviting us through." Then leaned in closer and quietly muttered, "The password is 'Patronus'."

When Harry gave a nod back, Luna turned back to the still open connection and quietly said, "Patronus." Then stepped into the flames, disappearing as if smoke up the chimney a bare moment later.

Harry followed her through, also muttering the password just before he stepped within.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When he stepped out of the flames into the little Charms Master's office in Hogwarts, Harry could see his girlfriend's backside almost in his face as she had bent over in front of him to give the little part-goblin Charms Master a happy hug.

He could hear the man quietly laughing at his past-student's antics from the other side of the girl, while she was still hugging him.

Without a word, Harry used his off-hand to lightly caress low-down on her bum, before then giving it a light pinch.

It had Luna suddenly snap upright with a startled yip of surprise, then wheel on him with an amused scowl. "Hardwin James Peverell-Potter!" she scolded him. "Be _have_ yourself, you."

Harry grinned back and stepped around her to greet the diminutive professor himself.

Offering his hand to shake, he said, "Hello, Professor Flitwick."

With a happy grin, Flitwick accepted his hand and enthusiastically shook it. "Hello, Mi- _Lord_ Peverell-Potter. Welcome back! It's _damned_ good to see you _alive_!"

"It's good to _be_ back, Professor," Harry easily returned.

Flitwick then put out the call to any of the Professors who didn't currently have class to come and join him in his office to greet a special guest. He used house elves to carry the messages.

Once done he turned back and asked, "So, Lord Peverell-Potter, it's true you've been on other planets this whole time?"

"Singular, Professor," Harry corrected. "Just the one."

"I bet the Unspeakables are just _itching_ to talk to you about that," said the professor.

"They are," Harry nodded. "However, there's no rush for me to do that; even if they'd like to think otherwise."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As it was a 'school day' only four of the rest of the staff didn't have classes on at that time; Hagrid and Professors Sinistra, Babbling and Vector. All four showed up; with Hagrid, as soon he laid eyes on him, almost crushing Harry's rib-cage in from the strength of his 'gentle' hug in which he'd scooped him up.

Once released, Harry gave a bit of a groan, stretched his back out a bit and rolled his shoulders.

"Yes; 'tis I!" he sighed, looking around before looking at Hagrid and smiling. "How are you, old friend?"

With watery eyes, Hagrid gave a loud sniff and said, "Oi'm good; thank you, 'Arry. Yer lookin' good, too!"

"Thank you, Hagrid," he returned.

"Lord Peverell-Potter," said a somewhat excited Sinistra, getting Harry's direct attention. "You were really on a planet orbiting the Dogstar?"

"Yes, Professor," he smiled. "If you have access to a pensieve, I can give you a copy of my memory of the night sky of the first night I was there. I know―"

"Yes, please!" she blurted, overriding Harry's response before she realised what she'd done and apologised.

Harry just lightly chuckled and waved it off. "It's fine. I understand it's the sort of thing a Master of Astronomy would near- _salivate_ over wanting to see."

"One moment, Lord Peverell-Potter," said Flitwick, walking over a cabinet in his office.

A quick fiddle of a couple of hidden catches and a low-height hidden draw suddenly snapped open on said cabinet. He then pulled it further out, reached within and gently withdrew a pensieve, carefully carrying it over to his desk and gently placing it there upon.

Ensured it was firmly in place, the professor looked to Harry and gestured to the bowl. "If you wouldn't mind, Lord Peverell-Potter?"

"Not at all," replied Harry, already drawing his wand and raising it to his temple as he walked closer to the bowl.

A few moments later and the silvery-ghostly cotton-candy-like mass he'd drawn from his temple with his wand tip was gently flicked off the wand and allowed to settle into the bowl.

"There ya go," he said, stepping back.

All, including Luna, quickly moved to stand within reach of the bowl. Then, almost synchronised, they each dropped into it.

Harry used the time they were gone to take a better look around the office. He'd only ever been in it once before; and that was back near the beginning of his fourth year.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When the four returned a few minutes later, Sinistra exclaimed, " _My word! Two moons!_ "

Harry chuckled and said, "It was, upon first seeing them, that I realised I wasn't on Earth anymore, Professor. It was the only explanation."

"It _would_ be!" she quietly said.

Flitwick suddenly asked, "Do you have time to wait for elevenses in the Great Hall, Lord Peverell-Potter? I believe Professor McGonagall would be upset she missed you, if you don't hold back."

After a quick glance to Luna to make sure she had no problems with it, Harry replied, "That sounds like a wonderful idea, Professor."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Before they headed for the Great Hall, however, Harry asked to stop by McGonagall's class with the other three Heads of House for a quick word beforehand.

Babbling immediately asked, "Why is that, Lord Peverell-Potter?"

"I have news that I believe must be passed on to Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and the other two Heads of House, first," he calmly replied.

"Is this about the Headmaster?" she near-demanded.

"It is," he replied. "However, I believe those four need to hear it first, if you don't mind."

His accompanying frown at her presumptuousness had her slightly blush and look away. "Sorry... for being so pressing, I mean."

"Understood... and accepted," he replied.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At a few minutes before the end of class bell, Professor Flitwick sent out two messenger Patronuses.

"For Professors Slughorn and Sprout, Lord Peverell-Potter," explained Flitwick. "I've asked them to detour via Professor McGonagall's office before heading for the Great Hall.

Harry gave a nod back just before following the little man out the door, with Luna tucking her hand into his off-hand elbow as they exited.

They arrived at the Transfigurations classroom a moment after the bell went. And waited as the class of third year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs quickly fled out and down the corridor.

Entering, it was to see the elderly professor clearing up her classroom.

"Minerva," said Flitwick, leading them within. "Look who's paid us a visit."

"I'll be just―" she began to reply, before her eyes landed on Harry and Luna and she froze just for a moment. "My word!" she exclaimed.

"Hello, Professor," said Harry, smiling back.

Abandoning her tidy-up, McGonagall hurried around her desk and over to Harry. Then she paused just a moment before throwing propriety to the wind and pulling him in for a short hug.

As she released him she happily said, " _Mister_... I-I mean, _Lord Peverell-Potter_! It's _wonderful_ to see you again!"

Harry smiled back and softly returned, "And you, Professor."

"Not that I'm not grateful you've decided to visit us," she said. "But, what's brought you here?"

Dropping his smile, Harry softly said, "Ah! Yes." He hesitated a moment before he said, "Perhaps I should wait until Professors Slughorn and Sprout turn up. I don't want to have to explain this a second time."

Shrewdly, she asked, "Is this about Albus?"

Again he hesitated before he replied, "Yes, actually."

With a slightly pained look back, she said, "I'm sorry for the way he treated you, Lord Peverell-Potter. And for my own part in some of that."

"That's alright, Professor," he returned. "I honestly don't think you were as responsible for as much as you think."

"You suspect he used compulsions and obliviations upon me," she correctly guessed. "And you'd be right."

When he looked back in surprise, she explained, "I had myself tested immediately after that... session of the Wizengamot. Actually, the DMLE investigators insisted. The DMLE's healers and the Unspeakables detected quite a few instances where I'd been obliviated or compulsed and the only common denominator of them was Dumbledore. The Healers at Saint Mungo's, a short time later, returned to me what still remained of my memories."

"We're here," said Slughorn, as he and Sprout entered with barely a knock to announce their presence.

"Good," said Harry, seeing them.

"My word!" Slughorn softly exclaimed on seeing him.

"Alright, Lord Peverell-Potter..." started Flitwick.

Harry gave a nod and said, "I was informed, only this morning, by... agents from the ICW as to what has happened to Dumbledore."

"He's dead, isn't he?" sighed McGonagall.

Harry nodded back and replied, "They dosed him with Veritaserum and... with the aid of a Master Legilimencer... got the details of all the crimes he committed out of him, put him before the ICW on trial and found him guilty. At least one of which, the harbouring charge, has only one sentence; execution. I was advised he was executed at dawn, Geneva-time, this morning.

That had the staff softly exclaim their surprise or, in McGonagall's case, sigh in disappointment.

"It looks like I'm now Acting Headmistress," she sadly said.

"I was also advised that Minister Bones was also informed this morning," he explained. "I daresay she'll be making an announcement about that very soon; if she hasn't already.

"If the wizarding wireless is as on the ball as they were the evening after I 'offed' that bastard Riddle... and you have students here with access to a wireless and who'll have it on at the right moment... they're going to find out, some time today, that old Alby-Walby is dead.

"So, you―"

"Mister Potter!" McGonagall softly scolded. " _Try_ and show the man some respect."

"I'm showing him all the respect he _deserves_ , Professor," Harry firmly returned. "Actually, I'm showing him _far_ more than I believe he _should_ be shown. It is only my respect for you and the other staff here that withholds my tongue from verbalising _exactly_ what I think he should be called... and that starts with 'manipulative old, white-whiskered, bum-raping... so-and-so'.

"And it's _Lord Peverell-Potter_ , Professor," he firmly added, before she could say anything else as she appeared to be about to do. "'Mister Potter' is _not_ the way I should be addressed; not any more."

When McGonagall looked slightly away and blushed, Harry ignored it and continued with what he was going to say. "As I was saying... with the wireless no doubt being informed of Dumbledore's death this morning, some time today, I advise you to inform the staff and students before they find out from the wireless."

With a sigh and nod, McGonagall returned, "You're correct... Lord Peverell-Potter. I'd best go and inform them all now." Then she gestured to the door of her classroom. "If we don't hurry, they're going to finish elevenses and start heading for their next classes."

She added, "You're welcome to join us... just give me a few moments to announce you, before you enter."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As Harry and Luna waited out in the entrance hall of the school, the senior staff all entered the Great Hall.

Then, as soon as she reached the dais and instead of going to her seat at the head table, McGonagall headed directly to the eagle-sculpted lectern Dumbledore rarely used.

That almost instantly had the students and staff settle down.

She waited only for Flitwick, Slughorn and Sprout to reach and sit at their seats before she gave her throat a little clear.

"Students and staff," she said. Her voice easily carried across the Hall and out to where Harry and Luna stood waiting.

"Students and staff... The duty has fallen to me to inform you that our Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, was found guilty of serious crimes before the ICW. As a result of at least one of those crimes... the crime of harbouring a dark lord, namely Gellert Grindelwald... only one sentence applies; execution."

Before the sudden noise from the students could become too loud and she'd have trouble corralling it back to a much quieter level, she quickly continued. "Albus Dumbledore, after being found guilty of his crimes, the then recognised criminal... I have been reliably informed... was lawfully executed this very morning by the ICW."

Yet again and before the noise could become too great, she once again continued. "As such and as I hold the post of Deputy Headmistress, by school charter and bylaws I automatically become the Acting Headmistress.

"I shall endeavour to contact the School Board as soon as feasible to resolve this situation. I foresee either me being elevated to the position of Headmistress or another being soon appointed by the Board.

"Until this situation is resolved I will be continuing as Professor of Transfigurations. However, I will need to cancel my classes between now and lunch so I may have the time to contact the President of the Board. Those who have classes with me between now and lunch have a free period."

She gave that a long moment to percolate through the minds of the students before she gave her throat another little clear. That drew most of the attention back to her.

"Second announcement," she said. "As a surprise we have visiting us today magical Britain's once and now again hero, the vanquisher of the dark wizard Tom Riddle, Lord Hardwin... Harry... Peverell-Potter. Please join me in making him and his lady-friend, Miss Luna Lovegood, welcome."

Then she stepped apart from the lectern and began clapping. She was quickly joined by the staff and students.

It was into this applause that Harry and Luna walked in. Luna was once again by Harry's side, with her right hand hooked into his left elbow.

The two walked up to the head table, with McGonagall directing them to a further two seats magically added on to the end of the staff table.

As they moved to sit down, McGonagall returned to the lectern and said, "Thank you. That's all the announcements I have for you, at the moment."

Harry was thankful that McGonagall blocked students and the other staff from asking any questions when he wanted to eat.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Of course being only 'elevenses', morning tea, Harry and Luna left only about fifteen minutes later. They stayed only long enough for McGonagall to thank them for providing the information concerning Dumbledore, before thanking her back for the hospitality of the castle. They left to return back via the floo in the Headmaster's office to Grimmauld. McGonagall escorted them to that office as she needed documents from the Head's office while she communicated with the President of the School Board.

When they got back Sirius had news for them.

"It seems I just missed you in the Alley," he started. "I was heading to Gringotts to sort out some finances."

Harry frowned in confusion and said, "I thought you'd remained on top of all that?"

"I had," smirked his godfather. "However, you killing off certain people at Black Manor... I've renamed Malfoy Manor back to Black Manor, by the way... it seems I inherited quite a bit."

"Oh?" asked Harry.

"I already knew about the LeStrange fortune, of course. I picked that up back three years ago when the LeStranges were tossed through the Veil, replied Sirius. "However, I've now managed to pick up quite a few more on top of the Rosier reduced fortune."

Harry gave a wince and said, "I take it that, when I killed Riddle's supposed Inner Circle, I wiped out a few lines?"

"That, you did," chuckled Sirius. "Malfoy, of course... the Elder House of Prince... Severus 'Snivellus' Snape's House... the Ancient and Noble House of Travers, apparently... and the Ancient House of Selwyn. Those all found their way to me, when the supposed inheritors also all died on that day.

It seems you managed to kill Lucius Malfoy almost last, who stood to inherit a lot of it, even if only no more than about two seconds after the last of the others. Apparently and even though dying close to last of the inheritors, he still inherited from the others.

"Then, when Malfoy died only seconds later, all that flowed to the House of Black as the primary and only beneficiary left alive at the time."

Harry was gobsmacked. It took him a good few seconds to work his mind around what he'd just been told, while Luna was quietly giggling at his reaction. Finally, he blurted, " _Daaaammnn!_ "

Sirius grinned back. "Because of what you did, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black has, far and beyond the pale, just become the richest House in Britain and one of the richest clients of Gringotts, anywhere in the world."

Harry just shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just been told.

He eventually asked, "And what have you done concerning those lines that have... for all intents and purposes... just gone extinct?"

Sirius shrugged and said, "I merged their fortunes into the House of Black and left the lines otherwise extant. The goblins assure me there are likely heirs out there, but they're either squibs or completely unknowing of their heritage."

Harry frowned and muttered, "Unknowing of their heritage..." Looking up in shock, he said, "It sounds like they may be hinting at illegitimate children."

Sirius's grin dropped quite a bit and he nodded.

"Rape victims?" asked Harry.

Sirius winced, but reluctantly nodded in response to that too. "That's a good possibility, yes."

"I certainly hope you intend to help them if they eventually find out what their true heritages _are_!" said Harry. "A heritage test in Gringotts, perchance?"

Sirius sighed and said, "I won't go out of my way to _find_ them. However, yes; if they find out they're actually children of a House I just pillaged... then I'll make sure they're helped."

Harry nodded and said, "That sounds fair."

"Oh!" said Sirius. "And Ami... Minister Bones... contacted me via floo to find out if I knew how to get hold of you. She remembers I'm still the lawfully recognised Potter Regent, though that's something we also need to fix now that you're an adult and back."

"Did she say what she wanted?" he asked.

"Only that she wanted to talk to you, that it was somewhat urgent and that she wouldn't take being ignored as a suitable response," grinned Sirius. "She said, if necessary, she'd send out aurors to hunt you down."

Harry gave a scoff and said, "No, she won't. She's got them far too busy at the moment arresting, questioning, charging and arranging trials for all those Death Eaters not yet suitably dead."

"But you're still going to floo-call her... right?" asked his godfather.

"Of course," he sighed. "I'll see if I can arrange something for after lunch."

"Best let her know," said a grinning Sirius.

Harry just gave his unrepentantly grinning godfather a look, before silently going back to the floo.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After arranging a time for after lunch to visit her and then holding off until after he could enjoy said lunch, Harry spent the time before the midday meal preparing the rack of memories he 'promised' he'd hand over regarding his history.

Then, after lunch, he returned to the floo with Luna to go to the Minister's office.

Stepping out of the floo in her office, he quickly said, "Susan's middle name is Amelia."

It still unnerved him to find himself facing the dangerous end of a wand when he entered a room; especially the three he was facing this time.

As soon as he said the second password, the first being just to get an open connection to the Minister's office, the wands all lowered again.

"Lord Peverell-Potter," said Bones, now coming out from behind her desk to properly greet him.

"Minister," he quietly returned with a slight smirk, while offering his hand to shake.

As she shook it, she said, "You misled me, when you were last here."

"A dissembled answer, yes," he grinned. "I did not blatantly lie, but I also did not correct what I knew to be false assumptions on your part."

She just gave a huff and turned to go back to her seat behind the desk. Almost as an afterthought as she rounded the end, she said, "Have a seat, you two."

After making sure Luna was comfortably sitting, Harry took the second chair of only two on the guest's side of the desk.

As Bones looked back at the two, Harry said, "Well; it's _your_ meeting, Minister. What did you want to ask or tell me you wouldn't mention over the floo to my godfather?"

She just gave a minor huff and replied, "I wanted you, of all people, to be the first to know. Albus Dumbledore―"

"After being found guilty of a number of crimes before the ICW, was executed this morning," Harry finished.

Surprised he knew, she asked, "Now, _how_ 'd you know that?"

"Certain agents of the ICW paid my godfather a visit, this morning, while I was there having breakfast with him," he replied. "One of _them_ told me."

Giving a slight grimace back, she said, "I asked them not to tell anyone until I was able to formulate a suitable message for the wizarding public."

"Albus Dumbledore was, to a certain point, a respected wizard throughout the world," said Harry. "He might not have properly earned that respect, but he had it.

"Don't forget, he was once also magical Britain's representative to the ICW and also once chaired that body as its Supreme Mugwump.

" _You_ might wish to be the one to make that announcement, but it's not actually your place to withhold that sort of information until you're ready for it to be released. The ICW charged and trialled him; the ICW get to determine when and how that information is disseminated.

"Just so you know... the denizens of Hogwarts, staff and students alike, _also_ now know Dumbledore was executed this morning. I think, if you don't want to be seen as withholding information the _public_ sees as information they deserve, you'd best get on with that."

Giving another grimace of perceived mental pain, Bones raised her off-hand to massage her forehead for the moment. Eventually, she looked up, glanced at Harry then looked over his shoulder at one of the two aurors in the room. "Ask Amos to step in for a moment, would you?"

Harry heard the office door open, the auror call to someone just outside the door - 'Obviously Diggory,' thought Harry - and then Diggory asked, "Ma'am?"

"Release the information about Dumbledore right now; would you, Amos?" she replied. "It seems the story has, somewhat, already broken."

"Errr... yes, Ma'am," the man replied, before exiting again.

She looked back to Harry and said, "I wish you hadn't done that."

"As I said," he returned. "It wasn't your call to make."

She rocked back in her chair and said, "Now for the second reason I invited you to visit."

Harry could have said something about her so called 'invitation', but a quick squeeze of his hand by Luna held his tongue.

"I need those memories you said you'd hand over."

He gave a nod and withdrew the phial case he had in one of his inside robe breast pockets and placed it on the desk. "I said I'd be willing to hand it over to your _aurors_."

Sitting back, he indicated it and said, "The phial marked number one is when I had to kill Quirinus Quirrell in self defence in June 1992; number two is of the battle with the basilisk in June 1993 in the chamber under the school; three to five are of my life growing up with the Dursleys; number six is of what I can remember of the event that made me an orphan; and numbers seven to nine are of some of what happened while I was on Hadrian, the planet that orbits Sirius A."

"I'd also like to see the battle where you killed Riddle for good," she said.

"Not until I have a signed blanket pardon in writing and in my hand for killing all those 'fine and upstanding citizens' otherwise known as Death Eaters; his thugs," he said. "Even then, I don't think I want that made public."

"And if I promise to immediately return the memory to you?" she pressed.

He thought about that and shrugged, "Maybe. I'll have to think about it."

"I'll also give an oath I won't share with anyone what I see in the memory," she added. "I just need to see it to confirm it was actually you who killed Riddle. I really don't care about his thugs... as you call them."

He again thought about it and said, "Alright. But the memory doesn't leave my sight and you watch it in my presence. Immediately afterwards, I take the memory back."

She gave a little, almost imperceptible, slump of relief at that. "Deal," she firmly said.

"Then you'd best get out your pensieve," he said.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once Bones had her pensieve on her desk and ready, she then gave her oath to not divulge what she'd see within the memory _other than_ to clarify and confirm that Harry did, indeed, kill Riddle.

Then she quickly wrote up and signed, as Minister complete with Ministry seal, a blanket pardon for Harry for anything he did that day that directly led to the death of Riddle and his Inner Circle.

"I won't do more than that," she explained. "As far as I know you could be guilty of other, unrelated, crimes. I won't pardon those."

"Fair enough," he returned. "For the record, though; I do not believe I have."

Once Harry had the pardon, he called on Dobby to take it back to Grimmauld for him. Then, once the elf popped away with it, he drew out the memory of him killing Riddle, starting with his arrival at Malfoy manor, right through to a moment after killing Nagini. He directly left out how he wasn't kidnapped and taken there, nor of 'staging' the scene to look like a mighty battle had taken place.

However, he knew she'd quickly figure that out for herself.

Then she, he and Luna all dropped into the memory.

When they came out, she looked to Harry and said, "What was that silver thing you used first?"

She'd already figured out, while in the memory, that Harry had staged the crime scene later and that he wasn't 'fighting for his life' when he killed them all; but agreed he was definitely in 'mortal peril'. However, she'd also told him she didn't care about any of that and had already realised why he did it. All she cared about was whether or not he actually killed Riddle, which was the only purpose of going into the memory.

"It's called a Zat'nik'tel," he replied, directly answering her question. "It's a Peverell family heirloom I recovered from the Peverell vault at Gringotts. Please don't attempt to ask me how it works. And, no, I don't have it on me. Believe it or not, it's actually a device made on entirely another world; and I do not know which one of the many, many thousands that would be."

She just nodded back and, indicating the rack of phials, asked, "Do one of these phials contain― Ah! Seven to nine; now I remember."

Harry didn't bother to respond. He just started taking the memory of his battle at Malfoy Manor back and dropping it into a phial Luna held for him.

"Care to join me while we watch your battle with the basilisk?" Bones then asked.

"We can do that," he said. "However, it's going to take about half an hour."

"The battle was that long?" she asked.

"No," he replied. "I just included what happened before that, as it's germane to how I found out the truth about Riddle's heritage."

"Very well," she said. And reached for the phial marked number two.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After spending most of the afternoon with Bones and going through the phials - he wouldn't go through the memories with her of his time with the Dursleys - he and Luna once again returned to Grimmauld.

"How did it go?" asked Sirius, as soon as they located him. "Dobby gave me the signed and stamped pardon, by the way."

"It went good," said Luna. "Though it took a while, as you can tell."

"Bones now has the memories she needs for the Wizengamot to award me the Order of Merlin for killing the basilisk," explained Harry. Then he chuckled and said, "She claims she nearly shit herself when she first laid eyes on it in the memory. And also believes an Order of Merlin, First Class, is not a high enough award for what I did."

"But that is what she's definitely recommending to the Wizengamot Harry be awarded," added Luna. "She also saw the memory of the event when Riddle first cast the killing curse at Harry back in October 1981."

"She, too, believes it's something my mum did, rather than me," said Harry. "However, she also believes she won't sway the Wizengamot from awarding me my 'rightful' Order of Merlin, First Class, for that event either."

"So, when's it all take place?" asked Sirius.

"She'll be calling another extraordinary sitting of the Wizengamot for some time next week," replied Harry. "There, she'll lay out the evidence.

"Oh! And she said Fudge and Lockhart have both also been stripped of _their_ Orders of Merlin. The information Luna provided as to who really performed all those astonishing feats of magic Lockhart wrote about him doing in those books was, for the most part, all confirmed."

"For the most part?" asked Sirius.

Luna replied, "Two of the main feats were actually committed by two wizards who have since, sadly, died."

"But the others were all definitely confirmed," added Harry. "She claims that the fact even _one_ was confirmed means Lockhart received his Order under false pretenses. Though he's currently a permanent patient in the Janus Thickey Ward at Mungo's, he'll be getting charged for that. And the gold he received for it, plus much of the proceeds from his books, will be legally taken from him and given to the folks or their families who rightfully deserve it."

Sirius gave a firm nod back and said, "I'm glad to see you're finally getting the recognition _you_ deserve, Harry. It's been a long time coming."

"Oh, yes," said Luna. "Before we left I also called Dobby to bring over all the evidence of that mail that contained all the nasty magics directed at Harry for either killing Riddle and or his Inner Circle or bringing to light Dumbledore's crimes."

"I know," said Sirius. "He told me."

"And Minister Bones will be personally ensuring those who can be charged for it _will_ be charged for it and, where it's appropriate, will be facing trial for it," she continued. "She's apparently quite offended people did that, let alone that they thought they'd get away with it."

"Dobby also took all the ones loaded with compulsion charms and the like," nodded Sirius. "Especially the ones that were on things like betrothal contracts. That, alone, is classed as attempted line theft and can see the perpetrators upwards from spending significant time in Azkaban all the way to being tossed through the Veil."

Harry gave a sudden wince, "Ouch!"

"It's a serious enough crime to warrant such punishment, Harry," said Sirius.

"I know," he sighed. "I can understand the reward if they actually managed to succeed, too. And that's why the punishment is so... permanent.

"Oh," he suddenly said, perking up. "How come I haven't seen Remus around much over the past couple days?"

"He's spending it at Tonk's place," replied his godfather. "With the hours Tonks is currently keeping, he's using the time to try and find more work. As such, he feels he needs to be at _her_ place, so they get more one-on-one time together."

Harry pulled a grimace and asked, "He's still not accepting financial help?"

"Nope," replied Sirius. "Too prideful for his own good, if you ask me."

"Well, as long as he's okay..." he sighed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

For the rest of the day, right through to going to bed except for one task Luna told Harry he needed to do first, the household spent the time still responding to mail Harry was receiving. However, it was a decently packed day, so Harry and Luna were in bed shortly after 9.00pm.

That task was to write a letter to a journalist at the _Daily Prophet_ she knew, concerning his 'opinion' about Dumbledore's execution.

He frowned at her and asked, "Why?"

"You're not sending it to Skeeter because you're punishing her for her behaviour in the Alley, this morning. And you're writing it so the _Prophet_ can convert it into an interview so they can print your views. You need to better explain why Dumbledore had to stand trial for what he did, how it was the ICW's choice whether or not to do so and that it was the ICW's decision he be executed; not yours."

"She's right," said Sirius. "By coming out in front with logical explanations as to why Dumbledore was executed, there's both less of a chance you'll end up copping the blame for it and for people still thinking you're supposed to be a _dark_ wizard."

He sighed and pulled yet another sheet of parchment before himself before picking up a fresh quill. "Alright. Tell me what I need to write."

Instead of staying home with Harry and Luna that evening, Sirius had finally figured out he had no risk of 'bumping into' Dumbledore if he went out; so decided to go to a wizarding nightclub to see if he could get lucky. He'd stopped soon after he first started when he was found innocent, because someone had tattled to the old man that he was somewhere the old man could find him.

Dumbledore had then set up spies at those places to immediately report to him if Sirius turned up. And Sirius had figured out that's what the old man had done after the third near miss of getting confronted by the old goat in less than two weeks.

Now, with the old man gone for good, Sirius felt it was once again safe for him to visit such places.

Harry wished him luck and, only mentioning it to Luna, hoped the old dog 'got lucky' and scored a bed partner for the night.

"He will," smiled Luna, as she was readying for bed.

While also getting undressed, Harry paused to look back in surprise. "He will?"

Smirking back as she was removing her bra, Luna said, "Harry; he's the godfather and... practically... the _actual_ father of the Boy-Who-Lived, soon to be known as the Man-Who-Vanquished. Your godfather's going to be able to use that notoriety to 'get lucky', as you put it, for a _very_ long time."

Harry grinned back. "Good. I like seeing him happy."

"Now," she said, already naked and starting to climb into bed, "Finish getting undressed and hop into bed. Your godfather's not the _only_ one getting lucky tonight."

Harry happily grinned back and hurried to strip off the remainder of his clothes. Little Harry was already beginning to firm up in anticipation.

On seeing it, Luna snickered.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	19. Sitting the Wizengamot

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Nineteen - Sitting the Wizengamot**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As expected for the folks at Grimmauld, the news of Dumbledore's execution at the hands of the ICW was splashed across the front page as the lead story of the _Daily Prophet_ the next morning.

They were hopeful that everything they'd accomplished the previous day, being seen out and about, would do a lot to mitigate a lot of the backlash that would come of the old manipulator's death. They weren't that stupid to believe they'd receive none, but that did not mean they could not hope for the amount to be greatly reduced.

Harry read it and saw most of the quotes for the article came directly from Bones as the Minister of Magic. In it she made it clear that, irrespective of all the good works Dumbledore had supposedly done on behalf of magical Britain, he was still found guilty of a major crime that had only execution as a punishment. That it was Harry who brought that information to light meant 'Lord Peverell-Potter' provided a service to the people of magical Britain.

 _'Lord Peverell-Potter did not bring Albus Dumbledore down, as I've already heard people have accused him_ ,' she was quoted. ' _Albus Dumbledore was found out. He committed the crimes and he has paid the penalty for committing those crimes. The so-called The Greater Good bedamned, Albus Dumbledore was proven, in International court, to be a criminal; one crime of which demanded his execution._ '

More pleasing, Harry's letter - as expected, converted to an interview - was directly below that main article as a sub-article. It also had the byline of the journalist they sent it to as the writer of the article. And Harry basically gave the same message as Bones; that Dumbledore committed a crime, was found guilty of it in a recognised court, that the court was recognised to be impartial and fair and that it demanded his execution as a result.

However, Harry didn't leave it there. Together with a far more truthful biography of the man, backed up by evidence, he also included the facts behind each action that Dumbledore took that was actually illegal _that he could prove_. He didn't even go into what was immoral or unethical - though there was also a lot of that - nor what he thought he knew the man had done that was illegal/criminal, but couldn't be proved, as it wasn't germane to the proving of Dumbledore committing crimes. He already knew that simply proving the man had broken one single crime that had the automatic punishment of execution, meant any more was pointless, other that to show the masses just how much of a criminal Dumbledore actually was.

"Well," he said, sliding the paper to Luna, "Let's hope we're not too badly inundated with yet more nasty mail."

"The mail redirection is still up," said Sirius, glancing up from where he was reading his own copy of the newsparchment. "So, don't worry about it. We'll handle whatever turns up, just as we did that which came the last few days."

With a sigh, Harry grouched, "That's not what bothers me so much. It's that, for the mail redirection to work, I'm again pretty much locked in here for the next few days."

"Buck up, Harry," said Sirius. "Don't forget, your parents were basically locked inside of the cottage at Godric's Hollow for _months_ when we learned Ol' Snake Face was, or would soon be, hunting them. If they could handle it, so can you. At least it's nowhere near as long as they had to cope with it."

Still miffed, Harry said, "Quite the nice load of 'guilt trip pudding' there, Sirius."

Surprised by Harry's remark, Sirius was a moment before he returned, "That was not my intention, actually. But I still apologise that it's how it came across."

Harry sighed and slumped. "Yeah; sorry right back at you."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The two days passed pretty quickly, once both Luna and Sirius came up with the bright idea of Harry providing them with further training. Both were now becoming quite adept at Harry's style of combat.

Both now could cast most of their own spell repertoires with one syllable incants, most silently. And were also getting pretty good at the time dilation trick of speeding themselves up.

At one break, Sirius asked, " _Why_ has no one figured out how to do this before?"

"Laziness," Luna promptly replied. "Hogwarts and the other magic schools teach one way and witches and wizards have come to believe that's the _only_ way. Once they've been taught that way, they don't work towards improving their own knowledge.

"Plus, it's really only necessary when in combat. And most wizards and witches run or cower in fear when it looks like they're about to be, or are in, a combat situation."

Harry beamed in pride at his girlfriend. "That's both quite succinct and, I think, entirely accurate."

She smiled back.

Sirius declared, "I, for one, am _not_ someone to run or cower in such a situation."

"None of us here are," said Luna. "I was implying, and am now outright stating, that is the case with _most_ witches and wizards. We're in a small minority who won't."

"To be fair," said Harry. " _No one_ should be in a situation where they're forced into combat; not even the aurors. However, there will always be those who believe they have a right to attack others. And, with everyone carrying wands, there will always be those who feel they can use them against others.

"For me, if you are incapable of standing toe-to-toe against someone who wants to cause you harm, then by all means run and hide. You should let the aurors do their jobs. However, relying only on the aurors to save your bacon when you find yourself in such a situation will sooner or later get you killed."

"Well said," said Sirius.

"Right," said Harry, brushing the conversation aside. "Let's get back to it. Now that the 'war' is over, I want to see you focusing more on incapacitation attacks, rather than lethal ones.

"Your aim, as of now, is _not_ to kill your opponent; it's to stop them being able to continue the fight with the added bonus of pinning them in place, de-wanded and de-portkeyed, ready for the aurors to turn up and take them away in manacles. It's harder than just killing them, but far more legal."

"We can still hurt them, right?" asked Sirius.

"Yup," Harry immediately replied. "Just not lethally and not permanently, if you can get away with it."

After a quick refresh and re-hydration, the three got back into it.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

One expedition out from under the wards, but again with the owl mail avoidance charm in place, was the 'necessary' trip to the Department of Mysteries.

Bones had sent through notice she was getting pressure from the Unspeakables to have Harry visit them to explain about his experiences on Hadrian. She also informed him she'd sent on to them a copy of the memories he'd left with her concerning his time on the planet.

With a pained sigh and scowl he decided to get it over with and, accompanied by Sirius this time, paid them that visit. Luna wanted nowhere near the Department and would avoid all Unspeakables as a matter of self-protection.

Over the course of a couple of hours with them he copied yet more of his memories for them, especially of the moment of his being magically sent through to horizon of the Arch, what he could recall of his time passing through it before passing out, his waking up on the planet, his fiddling with the DHD at the other end and his initial interactions with the Goa'uld and Jaffa.

He also gave them, through some method the Unspeakables employed, copies of the memories he'd taken from Imhotep. He could see it had the usually unflappable Unspeakables... well and truly 'flapped'. He also gave them copies of the full memories of his first interacting with SG-1 and the greater SGC.

Finding out what they could about the Goa'uld it was easy, for Harry and Sirius, to see the idea of them scared the whoopees out the Unspeakables. Harry couldn't blame them for their reactions.

As part of the deal he brokered with them for him to hand over the information about the SGC, Harry also gave them details on where the SGC was located and what he knew of their ongoing off-world activities.

In return, they informed him - once under magically binding vow not to release the information to anyone else - how closely they worked with the muggle Intelligentsia around the world to keep the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy secure; and some idea of just how much the same Intelligentsia knew of the magical world. After thinking about it for a few long moments Harry found he wasn't all that surprised.

After confronting them about it, they also confirmed that the supposed two aurors that visited them at Grimmauld a couple days earlier were Unspeakables, as they'd thought. They also informed them that the issue of the SG-1 hunting for him had been taken care of, even though he knew nothing of the sort until they told him. And, when he expressed concern they might have come to harm, the Unspeakables assured him they'd not been harmed other than to have memory alterations performed on them.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Four days after Harry and Luna's mini-expedition to the Alley, Hogwarts and a visit to Bones in her office - and two days after Harry and Sirius's visit to the Department of Mysteries - Harry and Sirius both received summonses via post owl to attend a Wizengamot meeting on the coming Tuesday.

After a quick read of his own, Sirius said, "You'll need to go into Twillfits and be fitted for Wizengamot robes, Harry."

Harry scowled, "I _really_ do not want to be tied to having to attend and sit through interminable waffle in Wizengamot sessions, Padfoot."

"I'm afraid you must, Harry," said his unrepentant godfather. "At the very least, you need to officially take up your seats. After that you can, when possible, pass off your votes to a proxy.

"However, sitting the Wizengamot is seen as both an honour and a responsibility of those at our level. Trying your best to avoid that responsibility can be seen as a slap in the face to wizarding Britain's traditions."

"And I should care... why?"

Sirius smirked and replied, "Because you're the Leader of the _Bright_?"

As Luna giggled in amusement, Harry scowled and threw a slice of toast at his smirking godfather; which was easily fended off. Behind his scowl, though, Harry was amused.

"Hurry up with your breakfast, Harry," said Luna, before a sudden food fight could break out between the two Lords of Noble and Ancient Houses. "I'm taking you into Twillfit and Tattings and get to play dress-up doll with you again."

Harry winced and groaned.

Sirius's smirk turned into a grin. And Harry again scowled back. This time, by gesturing with it, he only _threatened_ to fling another slice of toast back

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In Harry's mind, the time he spent in Twillfit and Tattings was even more annoying than the time he had to spend in Madam Malkin's. That was mainly because the shop assistants in Malkin's at least tried to make one's time standing on one of their measuring pedestals not as boring as it actually was, by trying to engage you in interesting conversation.

In Twillfits, Harry had to continue to stand on the pedestal even after the measuring process was completed. That was because the robes were tailored and fitted for you while you stood there. Which meant he couldn't even simply let Luna make all the clothing decisions while he browsed around the store. He had to stand there as material was draped over him, taken away and cut, then temporarily stitched together, brought back and remeasured and pinned, then finally taken away and properly sewn together.

Just for one set of robes, Harry had to stand on that blasted pedestal for upwards of an hour.

"Buck up, Harry," said Luna. "At least Twillfits will now have your measurements on file."

"All that wasted time for just one set of robes," he grumped.

After he overheard what Harry had mumbled, Tatting said, "Rewarding you with a set of robes that are perfectly tailored for you."

Harry was somewhat thankful the man didn't seem offended by his remark or attitude. If anything, he seemed quite blasé about it. It spoke of the man having heard it so often it now _was_ blasé.

When Harry just gave the man a 'look', Tatting acted a little pious and said, "You are the Lord of two Noble and Ancient Houses, My Lord Peverell-Potter. It would be disrespectful... not just to the legacy of your Houses, but to the other Lords and Ladies... if you did not _dress_ the part."

Harry grumped back and said, "I grew up wearing hand-me-downs and cast-offs, Mister Tatting. Just wearing new clothes that actually fit me is a major step up for me."

"But insufficient," nodded Tatting. "It's now all about image for you, My Lord."

Harry had no response for that, so just continued to grumble about it under his breath.

However, by the time he and Luna left, Harry now had both the plum-coloured Wizengamot robes and also a formal tuxedo-like set of robes for the next formal occasion he would have to attend. And, as promised, both perfectly fit. It was only while he was in the store that he learned he would have to attend a formal Ministry function, with him as the honoured guest, on his being awarded the Order of Merlin for why he needed a top-notch set of formal attire.

His pained and pinched look, akin to having sucked on a grapefruit wedge, had Luna snickering back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

On the day of the Wizengamot session, Harry had to wait in the New Members' antechamber until the Chief Warlock called forward new Members to be seated. Though he shouldn't have been, he was quite surprised by the number of others in the room with him.

He was not surprised, however, to see that many of them were glaring at him in clear hate when they thought he wasn't watching them. And was thankful there were four aurors also in the room and space about, watching those others.

It took him only a moment to realise that those in the room with him were all the heirs of DEs that were, until Harry killed them in the ex-Malfoy Manor or died as a result of being hunted by the aurors immediately afterwards and putting up a fight, also Lords and sat upon the Wizengamot.

He was thankful he didn't recognise any of them except, possibly, one or two who might have been first or second years the year he was a fifth year. And they'd probably not been Marked as they were still students at Hogwarts in their sixth or seventh year _this_ year. The wards Dumbledore had erected to trigger if anyone with the Dark Mark tried to enter meant they couldn't be Marked at least until after graduation and still remain at Hogwarts to complete their educations.

Instead of being worried about them he decided, instead, to lightly smirk at them when his eyes locked momentarily with theirs. They always broke eye contact first; some, quite worriedly.

When he looked to one of the aurors across the room, he found that auror had clearly noticed what was going on and was just as amused as he about the situation.

As the highest 'ranked' of the soon-to-be new Members awaiting recognition, Harry knew he would be called in first.

A few moments later, the door cracked open, drawing everyone's attention to it. A Senior Auror stuck their head in, caught eyes with Harry and said, "Lord Peverell-Potter. They're ready for you."

Harry gave a nod and exited.

Less than three minutes later he was ascending the stairs into the Members' tiers, heading for a Seat pre-placed to be right alongside Sirius's. He'd refused to even agree to set foot in the Chamber again unless his Seat was alongside his godfather's; and the witch Clerk of Seats from the Wizengamot Administrative Services Branch of the Ministry, though annoyed about the ultimatum, was not one to try to object to Harry's demand. At least she wouldn't when she figured out it was so easy to comply with when the Peverell Seat, by tradition, usually sat on the left of the Seat for the House of Black.

The House of Potter Seat, a Noble and Ancient House, was nominally located one tier down. However, that seat would remain vacant while Harry sat upon the Peverell Seat. Besides, that Seat had been warmed for far too long by Daedalus Diggle, back until Harry went through the Star Gate.

Dumbledore had slipped Diggle into the Seat as Proxy for the House of Potter almost immediately after the events of 31st October, 1981. And, as soon as Sirius took Regency of the House - and, therefore, took it out of Dumbledore's control - he immediately kicked the man out of the seat; much to Dumbledore's annoyance. What Diggle thought of it, no one cared. The man came from 'only' an Elder House, not a noble one; and, therefore, his opinion barely mattered to them.

As Harry took his Seat, the next person was ready for their induction. He was surprised to learn it was a younger brother to Theodore Nott. Theodore, when confronted with his arrest outside the gates of the ex-Malfoy Manor after activating his 'emergency' portkey to Malfoy Manor, had died only a day after his father and as one of those who tried to fight the aurors. The father, Caracticus Nott, was killed as a member of the Inner Circle.

'No _wonder_ he was casting me hateful glances back in the anteroom,' thought Harry. 'He'd lost both his father and older brother only a day or so apart.'

Once all the new inductees were Seated, Bones was given the call. It was concerning Harry's acceptance of the Orders of Merlin.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

At the close of what his godfather assured him was a short session, Harry and Sirius ignored all the calls for interviews from the journalists hovering outside the Chamber doors and headed directly back to Grimmauld. The journalists had taken one look at Harry's somewhat thunderous expression and given them both a wide berth.

The reason for the expression was that some fool of a wizard tried to imply that 'the future Lady of the Houses of Peverell and Potter needed to be carefully chosen'... yada, yadda... 'in order to protect the sanctity of two Ancient Houses teetering on the edge of extinction'... yadda, yadda... 'and must have suitable standing to shoulder the burden of being a spouse of a triple awardee of an Order of Merlin, First Class.'

Harry had immediately stood and in a near-snarl said, "If you even _think_ of saddling me with a wife _not_ of my own free choosing, I will tell you... _right then and there_... to shove the Orders up your collective wrinkly old arses. Then I will demand your immediate arrest for attempted _Line Theft_ ; and, if I can't get that, challenge you to an honour duel _to the death_. Next, I will publicly declare your House or Houses to be _anathema_ to the Houses of Peverell and Potter and declare _blood feud_ on your survivors.

"After I render your Houses extinct, I'll then pack up me and mine... and that won't be including any wife _you lot_ happen to think you're picking for me... and move to another country, declaring myself to be a political refugee and claiming I was suffering _persecution_ from the representatives of the magical British government, namely the Wizengamot, in the process. And that will simply be for the _insult_."

That had the wizard who'd raised it dump a log in his daks, quickly stammer out a stuttering apology and flee the Chambers.

Harry was immediately told off for his words by the Chief Warlock. However he, too, quickly stammered out an apology when Harry aimed his hateful glare at him and started fingering his wand.

"It is my lawful _right_ , Chief Warlock," Harry snarled. "Don't you _dare_ interfere.

"Your last dark lord, the magically powerful Tom Riddle, made the foolish mistake of coming after me. His body lies dead from a piercing curse right between the eyes from my wand. His so-called Inner Circle had the misfortune of being in his presence at the time and all of _them_ are also now dead, also from my wand.

"And the man who spent my entire life, even the months leading up to my birth, manipulating people and events surrounding me and mine... all for the purpose of shaping me to be his personal weapon to point at that so-called dark lord before then moving on to Lord Longbottom with the same purpose... I utterly destroyed. The Great Dissembler Albus Dumbledore's reputation lay in ruin before I then saw to it he paid for his crimes by being lawfully _executed_.

"Do _not_ allow yourself to be my enemy through deliberate or otherwise actions. I react quite... poorly. Expect not to survive the result."

As Harry dropped with a huff into his seat, Sirius called out, "And so speaks the Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House. Heed. His. Words!"

 _No one_ tried anything similar after that. However, Harry had to forcefully hold his glare when sweeping it across the Members, because he could hear his godfather not-so-quietly snickering away from the seat alongside him.

About the only decision concerning him that Harry tolerated them making, was when they would be awarding him his Orders of Merlin.

Once past the aurors at the conclusion of the meeting, Sirius had to again try and hold in his laughter, only letting out a short burst of snickering.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

First through the floo to Grimmauld, Harry only had a moment to see his girlfriend waiting for him on the couch, when Sirius popped out of the floo and immediately starting laughing long and loud.

Luna looked to Sirius who was having trouble standing from laughing so hard and started grinning, before she looked back at Harry.

"I take it," she said, "You had to read the riot act, as the muggles would say, to the Wizengamot?"

"You Saw?" he asked.

"A possibility, yes," she grinned.

"If I didn't go full 'Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House' on their arses I feared they wouldn't heed my warning and try to do something along those lines, anyway," he sighed.

She gave a single slow nod and quietly replied, "Yes; they would,"

He sighed and said, "We need to talk to your father."

Luna nodded and said, "You're thinking of a Betrothal Agreement."

"Yes," he said.

That shut Sirius up.

"A Betrothal Agreement?" he asked. He still had mirth twinkling in his eyes, though.

"Yes," replied, Harry. "A pretty ironclad one."

"Why― _Ah_!" asked his godfather, before he clearly understood. Then confirmed it. "You're worried that, even though you flat out threatened them with killing them and their entire families, someone is going to do something stupid and try to yet again lock you into a betrothal contract of _their_ choosing."

"Even worse," sighed Harry. "An ironclad _marriage_ contract."

When he looked more fully to his godfather he asked, "Just how many of those abominable things _did_ I receive via the post, by the way?"

His godfather smirked and replied, "Nine." Then his smirk dropped away and he added, "With three of them, according to the goblins, heavily laced with compulsions to sign them."

Harry gave a grimace of distaste and said, "If the aurors try to claim, through some discovered legal loophole, one or more of those bastards can't be put on trial I want to know about it immediately after _you_ do."

"I've already told them," his godfather again grinned. This time his grin had a bit of evil twist to it, promising retribution. "They weren't that stupid to not understand why."

Harry looked to Luna and asked, "When's your father due back from his expedition?"

"Next week," she smiled.

"I'm hoping you'll... put in a good word for me," he carefully said.

"Don't worry, Harry," she gently teased. "I'll tell him to say yes, just as I said I would."

He thought for a moment before he asked, "A betrothal contract doesn't offend you?"

"No," she immediately replied. "It's a good idea, actually."

"Next, they're awarding me the Orders the weekend after next; Saturday, the eleventh of December," he further explained. "They wanted to give me more time to prepare. However, the Ministry Yule Ball this year is on the Solstice day, Wednesday, the twenty second of December. And they didn't think it was suitable to have the two events merged or too close to one another."

"They're right," she nodded.

"First off," he sighed. "Miss Luna Lovegood; would you do me the honour of attending the Award Ceremony as my personal guest and escort?"

She smiled and said, "I'd be honoured to, Harry."

"Thank you," he returned. "Next; would you do me the honour of attending the Ministry Yule Ball with me?"

She grinned and replied, "Again, I'd be honoured to, Harry."

He gave a slump of relief. "Thank you, for both."

She came forward, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

Sirius said, "It looks like I'll have to find myself a date for the Yule Ball, too. I hadn't even _thought_ of attending."

Still in Harry's arms, Luna turned to him and said, "Now that the war's over, you really should attend."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With the owl mail again petering off, Harry felt it was safe enough to again go out in public for longer periods of time. If anything, the news article the next morning after the Wizengamot session about what he said in the Wizengamot had what quantity of mail he was still receiving drop right off to pretty much nothing.

He'd breathed a sigh of relief when all he received at breakfast that morning, via the goblins, was two letters. And both were letters of apology for sending earlier, threatening, letters and begging he not act against them.

What he was surprised to figure out, only that morning, was that he'd not received even one letter from any of the Weasleys, not even the twins. He was feeling a little ambivalent about that.

He definitely didn't want to hear from the youngest two, nor from their mother. However he didn't care, one way or the other, about the oldest three children. He'd have somewhat liked to have heard from the twins, though.

After breakfast and after they'd let it settle, Harry asked Luna, "Anywhere you'd like to go today?"

"Potter Manor," she immediately returned.

"What?- _Where?_ " he asked, surprised.

"Potter Manor," she repeated.

"I... have a Manor?!" he almost squeaked.

"Of course you do, Pup," Sirius cut in. "You should have been informed of it when you went in to see the Potter Account Manager at Gringotts, Hooknose or Rockgnasher. Why would you think you didn't?"

"It didn't occur to me to _ask_ ," said a somewhat stunned Harry. "When I've been in to see him... them... we had, I felt, far more important and time critical things to deal with."

"Which is why we're going to go and talk with him again, this morning," said Luna. "He'll be able to give us the portkeys to the properties."

"Properties?" he immediately asked right back.

"Properties," she promptly and firmly replied. "There's Potter Manor, Potter Retreat in Southern France, Potter Penthouse in magical USA, Potter Winery in Australia and a few smaller, less important, ones scattered about the world."

"D- _daaammn_!" he stutter-exclaimed. Then he gave a sigh and said, "Alright. We go see Rockgnasher to get what we need to go to Potter Manor and the other properties, then we go visit Potter Manor."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The visit to Gringotts had Harry lightly 'scold' his Account Manager about what information Harry believed he should receive. And one of those was about the various real estate holdings that belonged to the Houses.

The goblin didn't look chagrined about it, at all. He simply said, "It is your responsibility to ask concerning such matters, not mine to offer unsolicited advice. Besides, I have no notice, either way, whether or not Hooknose informed you."

Harry just gave a snort of annoyed amusement, picked up the portkeys created to take him to the front gates of the various properties, offered all but the one for Potter Manor to Luna and decided on a trip down to the Potter vaults.

As soon as he 'demanded' being taken down to his vault, Harry heard Luna quietly mutter, "The Potter betrothal ring. Of course."

He looked to her and said, "You know, being with you is going to make it really hard for me to surprise you."

She just smirked back.

Then, after the trip down to the vault to collect the ring and more galleons, the two returned to the surface. After leaving the bank it was then only a matter of a quick walk up to the apparation/portkey point.

The two held on to the permanent active portkey and, as Harry activated it, they were away.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry didn't know what to expect when he first laid eyes on Potter Manor.

Other than what he remembered of the inside of the ex-Malfoy Manor and extrapolating from there, he actually had no proper context. As such, his only concept was of an American southern 'plantation' owners home, such as that found in old stories and what he remembered of seeing in books back in Little Whinging Primary School.

The reality was, other than being multi-storied as he expected, significantly different.

Potter Manor stood out in the open on what looked like a huge lawn that was interspersed with garden beds. Thinking further about it he then remembered how the old English castles all, apparently, stood the same. He did not know they were like that to provide open fields of fire to the castle's archer defenders, but it wouldn't have surprised him if he knew.

Potter Manor had the wide open lawns to provide no cover to anyone who sought to magically attack it from the outside.

What he saw, once he stepped through the Notice-me-Not and other outer wards, was a beautiful example of an eighteenth century nobleman's estate house. It was white with, oddly, black trim. It had a black slate roof, black painted main doors and window shutters, but with the actual building being a clean white.

At least, it would have been if it wasn't looking so neglected.

From beside him, Luna quietly said, "Dobby is going to _love_ this place."

Harry gave a silent nod and said, "Come on. Let's go inside."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After a long walk up the arrow straight footpath - no driveway - as Harry reached for the door handle, Luna pulled his arm back.

When he turned to her, confused, she said, "You need to claim the property, first, Harry. The battle wards, while quite depleted due to age, are still up."

Harry could easily see the wisdom of that. So, while standing on the porch before the massive main doors, he drew his wand and held it in the oath grip.

Thinking of what he needed to say first, he firmly intoned, "I, Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, Lord of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, hereby claim this manor under the auspices of magical primogenitor, birthright, as my own. As I say, so I declare, so must it be."

His wand tip gave a significant flash and a ring of visible magic shot out of his wand in a circular wave similar to what happened when he claimed Malfoy Manor under prædātum for the House of Black.

Before he had a chance to again reach for the door handle, Luna reached out and, this time, gently laid a hand on his arm. "Harry, say that same claim again; however, this time, make the claim for _all_ Potter property."

Harry looked to his girlfriend for only a moment before he saw the expression she usually had when she'd just Seen something.

He only gave her a nod, rethought about what to say and intoned, "I, Hardwin James Peverell-Potter, Lord of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, hereby claim back to the House of Potter under my control and under the auspices of magical primogenitor, birthright, all property rightfully belonging to the House of Potter. As I say, so I declare, so must it be."

Again, there was another flash and wave of magic.

He then waited about five seconds to see what would happen. When nothing did that he was aware of, he turned to his girlfriend and started to ask, "Why did―"

That was as far as he got before there was a triple-pop of three house elves suddenly appearing before him.

He gave a slight start in surprise.

All three elves were excitedly, almost chantingly, exclaiming, "Master Hardwin! Master Hardwin!"

"Errr..." he stuttered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Master Hardwin," all three chorused.

"What... on..." he softly started to say.

"Harry," said Luna, cutting him off.

When he turned to her, she was smirking back. "Harry, these are the Potter family elves in magical Britain. Since Dumbledore's interference back on _that_ night, the old man sent them to work at Hogwarts. They've been there this whole time."

After a moment to think that through, Harry softly exclaimed, "Hunh!" Then he turned to the elves. "You're Potter elves?" he asked.

"Yes, Master Hardwin," they all chorused.

Then the first added, "I be Domo."

Then the second added, "I be Coco."

And the third, "I be Horto."

By simply accepting it as fact and trusting in his girlfriend, he said, "Then I welcome you back into the House of Potter."

All three beamed back in happiness.

One of them, Horto, then looked about as if in horror at what he saw.

"This be _wrong_!" he exclaimed. That had the other two then quickly look about and adopt similar expressions.

"Wees needings to gets to _work_!" exclaimed Domo before turning pleading eyes on Harry again. "Master Hardwin... _please_?"

Thinking quickly, Harry said, "You can, if you wish, make a start on getting this place back to good condition.

" _However_ ," he quickly said, before they could all pop away and make that start, "You may call in any elves to help you, even free elves; and none of you may work yourselves to the point of exhaustion. I expect you to take your time and do it right."

"Thank you, Master Hardwin!" all three again chorused.

Then, with another triple pop, they disappeared again.

Harry then turned to Luna and gestured to the door. "Now?"

"Now," she nodded with a smirk.

And Harry again reached for the door handle. This time Luna didn't stop him from opening it.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

A couple of hours after leaving, Harry and Luna stepped back out of the floo into Grimmauld and went in search of Sirius. He was in his office, again going over parchment work.

"Hello, you two," he said, seeing them step into the office from where he was sitting at the desk. "How'd things go?"

"Good," Harry sighed. "I picked up the Potter betrothal ring and some more gold from my vaults. And spoke to Rockgnasher about Potter and Peverell property. He claimed it was my responsibility to ask him about them, rather than his to tell me of them.

"Then Luna and I went out to Potter Manor to explore it.

"In doing that and claiming the manorhold, Luna also... suggested... I claim all rightful Potter property while I was at it. When I did, three elves turned up.

"Apparently Dumbledore, on claiming magical guardianship of me, ordered them to leave the properties and go work at Hogwarts. They've been there this whole time. What I'm curious about is how he managed to accomplish that. As he wasn't rightfully my magical guardian, he must've used magics to effect it."

"He did," said Luna. "He used strong compulsion charms based on the Elder Wand and his silver tongue."

Sirius frowned a bit and said, "He had to have found some way to block the elf-bond to House of Potter from you."

Harry frowned, scowled and said, "Those bloody blood wards."

Sirius looked up in surprise and said, "That actually makes a fair bit of sense. Part of the wards he had set up on you blocked all magical abilities to find you including scrying and owl mail. It makes sense it also blocked the elves's ability to find you."

"What happened to those wards, anyway," asked Harry.

"I went to the property within a couple of days of gaining my freedom and pulled the ward stone out before taking it away and destroying it," explained his godfather. "It was the day after the Dursleys were killed by Death Eaters."

"Pity," muttered Harry, not phased about hearing again about the deaths of his relatives. "We could have researched the wardstone to find―" He stopped for a moment because he had a sudden thought. "Actually... did you have a good look over the stone before you destroyed it?"

"Yes," replied a curious Sirius. "Why?"

As Harry grinned, Luna replied, "Pensieve. We can review a copy of your memory of handling the wardstone to find out what runes were carved into it."

"And, from there..." started Harry.

Sirius finished, "... We can extrapolate what wards were up on the Dursley residence. Good idea."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After Sirius pulled out the Black family pensieve and dropped his memory of the stone into it, the three entered the memory. Luna took with her a clipboard, parchment and self-inking quill. It was what she used when interviewing someone for the Quibbler.

Once she'd gone over the stone with the memory paused, Luna said, "I've got them all, I think."

And the three pulled out of the memory.

Then, with Luna leading the research due to her more recent background in Ancient Runes and wards, the three set to find out for what wards the stone acted as the anchor. Thankfully, it didn't take long as Luna recognised almost all of them pretty much straight away.

Once they were done, she read them out. "Anti-portkey, anti-apparation, anti-scrying, post owl redirection, a wizard Notice-me-Not, a separate _modified_ subtle Notice-me-Not for non-magicals, the powerful blood based magics that seems to be based on familial protection _annnd_... yes... what is clearly a house elf bond breaker."

"Son of a _bitch_!" Harry snarled. "If he wasn't already dead I'd declare _blood feud_ on the bastard, just for that."

"What's done is done," said Sirius. "He can no longer interfere in anyone's life. Let it be."

Harry thought about it for a long moment before he finally slumped against the door frame he was still standing next to and sighed. "No, you're right."

Then he stood up straight, "However, once we find out everything that bastard did, I might just write a book about him."

Sirius smirked and said, "Rita Skeeter's already writing one. It's going to be pretty scathing."

Curious, Harry asked, "How did you know that?"

"She contacted me and asked me if I had anything to contribute," shrugged Sirius. "I refused until she confessed it was aimed at tearing the old man's legacy down. Which reminds me." He turned to Luna and said, "Are you willing to share any of those... insights... of yours in those scrapbooks?"

She replied, "No. I intend to write my own, once I'm settled. I think it'll be a nice project during my first pregnancy."

Sirius was a little surprised and showed it, but just nodded in understanding. "Sounds like a good idea."

Then he smirked and asked, "And just _when_ do you See yourself undertaking that project?"

She snickered and replied, "None of your business. At least, none of your business until I'm actually pregnant."

Sirius laughed, but Harry didn't know if he needed to be worried or not.

"Don't worry, Harry," she said. "No pregnancy until after we're married. I promise."

Harry didn't even breathe a sigh of relief from hearing that, because he already trusted Luna would not try to take advantage of him that way.

Then, when he realised that, it also confirmed for him that she would definitely be the next Lady Potter. He both loved and trusted her; and she'd never, not even back when they were students at Hogwarts, given him any reason to doubt her sincerity and love for him.

"Actually," said Luna. "What Harry needs to do is start to study for his NEWTs. He has his OWLs, of course... he completed the exams for those before we went to the Department of Mysteries, that evening... but he's not studied or sat for his NEWTs yet."

That had Sirius surprised and Harry outright shocked.

Sirius turned a smirk on Harry and said, "She's right, Pup. You only have your OWLs. You should really study for your NEWTs, now that both Riddle and Dumbledore are out of the way."

Harry looked to both with a pained expression. "I am _not_ going to return to Hogwarts as a student."

"No, Harry," said Luna. "You're hiring tutors."

"Good idea," said Sirius. "I'll start making enquiries this very afternoon."

"He'll only need the proper texts and a tutor for the practicals," said Luna. "His Occlumency is at a stage where he can easily recall everything he's read. He only needs to read it once and he knows the information off by heart. So, focus on tutors that are heavy on the practical.

"And focus on tutors for Charms, Transfiguration, DADA, Herbology, Potions, Astronomy, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. The first three he only needs for a short time as he can easily knock over at least an Acceptable in the first two, and an Outstanding in the third, already."

"Wait, wait," Harry blurted, as his life was in the process of being laid out and he'd not managed to get a word in about it yet. "For a start, almost everything I did on Hadrian was related to the first three you mentioned. Plus, I didn't study Ancient Runes or Arithmancy while I was at Hogwarts. I―"

"Hush!" Luna cut in, cutting him off. "Almost all the magic you do, even DADA, is related to OWL level work. Yes, you can pump in the power to accomplish something with nothing but intent, but you still need to learn the 'proper' way of casting all those spells to get your NEWTs in those subjects.

"As for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, I know you can handle them. With Occlumency at your level, Ancient Runes will become almost a breeze for you. You'll only need to be taught how to carve the runes, how to array them and how to properly power them. That's all basically taught in the last six months of the class in seventh year."

When Harry kept silent, but looked sceptical, Luna said, "Trust me, Harry. I've Seen what you will be able to do."

With a pained look and a sigh, he grumble-muttered, " _Fiiiinnnee_."

With a dazzling smile back, Luna rose on tiptoes a bit and kissed him on the cheek. "Good boy."

It didn't help that Sirius was chuckling at Harry demonstrating he was well and truly whipped by the little blonde.

As promised, Sirius made enquiries through the Wizarding Examinations Authority, that very afternoon, to find suitable tutors for his godson.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Also that very afternoon, Luna practically forced Harry into a chair at the kitchen table and placed a short stack of books before him.

"The introduction books for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes and the sixth year books for Charms, Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Astronomy and even Enchanting," said Luna, indicating each. "I've left out Care of Magical Creatures, History of Magic, Muggle Studies and Divination. You don't need them.

"You can study CoMC when you've got further time; a NEWT in History only requires you read through the texts, plus a couple others, to gain an Outstanding in the subject as there's no practical component; Muggle Studies you could pass in your sleep, having lived a muggle life; and Divination is pointless for you, as you have only a passing modicum of talent in the field and no gift."

"How did you get these _so fast_?" he gasped. "Wait! They were in the Black Library, weren't they. And, yes, I agree with you about those subjects."

"Actually, these are mine," she corrected him. "I had Dobby go to my place and pick them up for me. The seventh year books of the subjects you studied, plus the rest of the books for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, are up in our room in the small bookcase I had Dobby install in there."

"Hunh!" he muttered. "Actually, what _did_ happen to all my stuff? Aside from my broom and coin pouch Sirius told me about, I hadn't thought of the rest.

"My trunk and that from Hogwarts, that is. I really don't care about what happened to anything I had at the Dursleys."

"Sirius has your trunk in the attic, here," she replied. "I'm sorry, but we should have told you that already. As for what happened to anything at the Dursleys... I'm afraid, if there was anything there, it got burnt to ash when the Dursleys' home was burnt to the ground."

Harry thought about that and said, "Actually, the only thing in my trunk I was truly worried about was the photo album Hagrid got me for my first year back in the magical world. Everything else is easily replaceable or I've outgrown it."

"Hmmm..." she muttered, "Give me a moment."

She quickly left, but was back within the minute. She walked in with a smile on her face and carrying, cradled in her arms, the photo album. She gently placed it on the table next to the stack of books.

"It was in a safe place, Harry," she explained as Sirius walked in.

"Sorry, pup," he said. "I should have thought. That's been in a specially-protected bookcase under a Fidelius in my office since I recovered it while recovering your effects from Hogwarts."

Harry was already gently trailing his fingertips over the cover of it with a wistful look on his face.

Quietly, almost whispered, he said, "Thank you."

Seeing the expression on his face, Luna gave Sirius a look before saying, "I feel like brewing some tea. Want some?"

While Harry hadn't even heard her, Sirius said, "Sure."

They left Harry to his thoughts, while they 'busied' themselves with the tea.

It had completely slipped Harry's mind that Dobby would have been more than willing to set up a tea setting for them, if they'd asked.

The only reason he hadn't popped in to scold them for doing 'house elves' work' was because he was at Potter Manor with the 'other' Potter elves getting the manor and its extensive grounds back up to pristine condition. He was always ready to be called back to Grimmauld at a moment's notice, but his direct focus at the time was on the work on the manor.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After recovering from his slip of emotion relating to getting his photo album back, Harry was soon into reading through the texts of the subjects he should have been covering at Hogwarts for the first two years he was on Hadrian, his sixth and seventh years. He'd also made a start on the Arithmancy and Ancient Runes texts.

It was while he was reading through them that Sirius took Luna aside.

"Have you Seen what I've organised for tomorrow morning?" he asked.

She grinned back and said, "Yes. Like you, I think it's a nice surprise. And no, I haven't and will not tell him."

Sirius grinned and said, "Thank you."

"I need to get back in to help Harry," she suddenly said.

Sirius just nodded and again said, "Thank you," before then heading back to his office.

As he left, Luna stared at his back with one of her knowing smirks. 'Tomorrow morning is going to be a _lot_ more exciting than you think it will be, Sirius,' she thought, before then heading back to the kitchen. 'Not all of it pleasant.'

She needed to help Harry with his study. When it came to the practicals, Harry was always completely focused. It was during study he still had focus problems.

However, just as dinner was approaching, they were joined by Tonks and Remus.

Luna 'permitted' Harry to set aside the books after dinner and help with combat training for both of them. They spent about three hours working on improving both their speed and creating non-lethal spell chains.

Tonks needed them as Connie Hammer, surprisingly already and recently back at work, had now brought in a 'rule' that any of the few remaining Death Eaters still free had to, whenever possible, be brought down only with non-lethal spells.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next morning the household was awake early. Both Remus and Tonks had also spent the night so were both there for breakfast.

"Finally getting a day off, Tonks?" Harry asked.

"Yep!" she happily replied, but didn't elucidate.

During a break in their training the previous evening, she explained how the last few Death Eaters they were still hunting had either shot through overseas or had holed-up somewhere. They now had to work hard to ferret them out, but it was mainly research into possible bolt-holes.

Harry then turned to Sirius and suggested, "Now that the aurors are no longer working such long hours, perhaps it's now time to forward the rest of all that dodgy mail to the new Head Auror, Proudfoot, to get them officially investigated."

"I've already sent it," replied Sirius. "I told him to get to it when the pressure eased off, but that it wasn't to be indefinitely put aside."

"It's already being investigated," said Tonks. "I know that the Chief Auror, Proudfoot, has already set a team aside to deal with it all, at any rate."

Harry gave a nod and said, "Then I expect to see action concerning it all within the next couple of days. If I don't see certain names starting to pop up on the judicial docket for the Wizengamot within the week, though, I'll go in to see Proudfoot myself.

"I will not allow any of those who tried to use magic upon me, whether through compulsions or harm, to get away with what they did."

"Don't worry, Harry," she assured him. "The Chief Auror is of the same mind. They'll face trial; I'd bet my robes on it."

He gave a nod back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was only about ten minutes later when there was a solid knocking on the front door.

Harry's head shot up with a puzzled expression to stare at Sirius.

"I thought no one―"

"I relaxed the wards a little after the Unspeakables left. People can now approach the front door and knock," his godfather cut in, starting to rise. "I'd best go see who it is."

However, the expression of smugness, glee, excitement and whatever else that passed over his godfather's face had Harry a little concerned and a lot curious.

Sirius, once he walked out of the kitchen, allowed his expression to relax even more into one of excitement. He was looking forward to this.

He first cast a specialised charm on the front door, which allowed him to see through it from the inside. And he saw who he thought he'd see.

Now grinning, he walked the few steps forward and opened the door.

Standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a glare on her face was a young witch who looked ready to give someone a piece of her mind. And, standing at the bottom of the path at the fence line, were her parents.

Sirius openly grinned at the young woman and said, "Hello, Hermione. Welcome back to Britain."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

* * *

 **A/N:** Yes, it's a cliffy and, because of that, many of you will think I'm a wanker. Deal with it. :) At just over 9,000 words this chapter was long enough.

A lot of you asked if I'd be bringing Hermione back into it and I've held my tongue on that subject because, of course, I'd already written that I had. I didn't want to spoil the surprise.


	20. An Old Friend Learns a Truth

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Sorry for not updating last Wednesday, folks. I've gotten back into the writing groove with Daft Morons and updating this completely slipped my mind. And, no; I won't tell you just yet when I'll be updating that story. I want it properly finished before I do, so this break does not happen again._

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty - An Old Friend Learns a Truth**

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Standing on the doorstep while her parents hung back at the ward line, with her voice practically a growl, Hermione Granger demanded " _Where_... is... he?"

Sirius just grinned wider.

Ignoring her question he looked past her and said, "Marc... Sandi... come on up."

When they reached the stoop, Sirius said, "I, Lord Sirius Orion Black the Third, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, offer you and yours safe haven in my home and bid you welcome."

Marc, as the actual 'head' of House Granger, replied, "I, Marcade Daniel Granger, on behalf of House Granger accept your offer of safe haven and thank you for your welcome."

Then he grinned and asked, "Did I say it right?"

Sirius smiled back and said, "Spot on."

Then he stepped to the side to allow passage past him and said, "Come in."

Hermione gave a huff and stomped inside.

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Harry was in the middle of discussing how he was now focusing on getting his NEWTs with Tonks and Remus, 'because his girlfriend and godfather said he should', when Sirius walked back into the room.

"Who―" Harry started to ask before he saw who then stepped into the room next. " _Hermione?_ " he squeaked.

With an unreadable expression on her face, Harry watched as his once best friend strode across the room towards him as he rapidly climbed to his feet.

He didn't even get to say anything before she firmly placed a hand on his chest and pushed him backwards until his back was against the wall.

"Errr..." he started.

" _Don't start_ , Harry James Potter," she snarled at him.

"But―" he tried, before she simply rode right over the top of him.

"I thought you'd _died_ , you prat!" she snarled at him. " _Everyone_ did. You've got some explaining to do and _I want answers_! And none of that _nonsense_ about you being on a different planet, either.

"The whole concept of being on a different planet, what with the distances involved―"

He quickly cut in, "Eight point six light years."

"I _know_ how far Sirius A and B _are_ , Harry," she snapped. "It's slightly more than fifty _trillion_ miles away. And how you can expect anyone with a lick of sense to believe you could have possibly been on a planet half the galaxy away―"

"Our next nearest star, Hermione," he tried.

"I know that!" she again snapped. "It's still such a phenomenal distance no one could possibly believe―"

Having had enough of her diatribe, Harry finally reached forth with both hands, cupped her cheeks between then, leaned forward and kissed her hard on the lips.

He didn't hold it long, just long enough to shut the girl up. When she stopped trying to talk around his lips, he pulled back again.

"Stop!" he firmly commanded.

After the shock of the kiss and when she began to regain her senses and frown at him, he firmly said, "Hermione Granger, I am _well_ prepared to make a binding _vow_ on my magic as to the truth of what I said about me being on another planet. I _was_ on a different planet; I _was_ on a planet that had two suns and two moons that I know of; and I _was_ rescued from that planet by a team of US Air Force personnel."

Before she could again say anything, Sirius said, "There's no need for that, Harry. I can simply get my pensieve and you can show her the memory of your first night on the planet."

Surprised, Harry released his hold on who he still considered his best female friend, now after Luna, and said, "Actually, that's a good idea."

Sirius gave a nod and called, "Dobby."

The little elf arrived and Sirius immediately asked him, "Can you get my pensieve out and bring it in here for me, please?"

"Yes, Master Paddyfoots," replied Dobby before he popped away to do exactly that.

"Sirius," Hermione grumbled and glared at the man. However before she could expand on that one word, Dobby was back.

He popped the pensieve onto the kitchen table and popped away again.

"Did you forget what I told you about house elves, Hermione?" he asked.

She didn't say another word; only looked a little miffed.

Harry didn't know what was going on there, but at least it distracted the young woman from pressing matters concerning him. Though it did seem as if Sirius had, at one time, talked to the young woman about the issues around house elves. He'd ask later.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After Harry dropped his memories of waking up on the planet, his activating the Chappa'ai and his first night into the pensieve, Sirius activated it in projector mode. That is, he activated it to play the memory in the air above the surface of the pensieve, rather than everyone dropping into the memory to interact with it.

When the three played out, one after the other, Harry looked to Hermione and asked, "Do you now accept my word; or am I going to have to make that vow, after all?"

Caught between being ashamed she doubted him and amazed at what she saw, she replied, "Sorry, Harry." Then rallied and added, "But, you must admit, it seems pretty far-fetched."

Luna piped up and said, "Harry, can you show us the memory of the day the United States' military personnel rescued you?"

Harry gave a nod back, focused on the memory and drew it from his mind. Then he dropped the mass into the 'waters' of the pensieve.

"Sirius?" he asked, gesturing to the bowl.

Sirius gave a nod, stepped forward and activated the new memory, before then stepping back again.

While it played and those watching got their first look at SG-1, Harry heard Marc and Sandi give small gasps of surprise.

Then, once the memory played through, Harry looked to them and asked, "You recognised them?"

Both nodded, but it was Marc who replied, "Two of those people, the woman and the older man, paid us a visit early last month. They came to our home in Massachusetts asking questions about _you_."

"Ah!" smirked Harry. "They were looking for me. If it was after the second of November it would have been after I'd left their company. However, they really didn't want me to leave, if you get my drift."

"They had you in custody?" asked Hermione.

Harry grinned and replied, "Think about it, Hermione. Have you heard anything... _at all_... about a highly sensitive US military unit that sends soldiers off to other planets through a wormhole?

"They don't want word of that secret being made public. They understand the panic it would cause.

"As such, they were holding me until they could figure out some way to slot me back into the real world without everyone who knew me asking questions that I couldn't answer without speaking about that arch, the wormhole I went through and how the US Government military are using one located in the US to send people, as they call it, off-world through regular trips.

"What I was worried about is that they'd have forced me into... what's it called?... protective custody, that's it. And not let me go back to my own life. So, I escaped their clutches and snuck back into England."

"They wouldn't do that," Hermione disagreed.

"Yes, they would," her father quickly cut in and disagreed. "They might have even _killed_ Harry to protect that secret. It's not as if it's something countries haven't done before."

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "Oh, I knew they'd have not been able to kill me. That didn't mean they wouldn't _try_ , though. It would have also meant I'd likely have had to breach the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy to escape getting killed. Then, as they're members of a highly secret government military unit, getting in to obliviate them - if there would even be any point to that, considering all the security cameras I saw - would be both difficult and probably pointless.

"As such, I had to get out of there before it became an even worse issue that it already was. That's why they obviously visited you, because they were looking for me to take me back into 'custody'."

With a frown, Marcade asked, "Are we safe to go back to the US?"

"Yes," replied Luna. "They visited you to see if you or Hermione had any idea as to where they could find Harry. They now believe you have no idea he's even alive and actually believe him to be dead. They won't be bothering you."

Hermione frowned at her and demanded, "And _how_ would you be knowing that?"

Before Luna's gift could be discussed, Harry replied, "Sirius has some contact with a proven Seer. And that Seer's assistance has been paramount in providing intelligence that, for a start, helped me finally 'off' Tom Riddle for good."

Turning her frown on Harry, she asked, "For a start? What _else_ has he or she informed you of?"

" _Hermione_ ," called Sirius in a firm voice. " _Mind your place_."

When she turned to him he was lightly scowling at her. "You, Miss Granger, are both a muggle-born and a guest in _my_ house. Mind your tone when you speak with two Lords of Noble and Ancient Houses."

"She can simply mind her tone," said Marc. He then looked to Hermione and firmly said, "You will watch what you say and how you say it, little missy. You might now be twenty years old, but I am still your father and you will not disrespect _anyone_ in my presence."

Hermione slightly pinked from embarrassment, but still looked somewhat resolute. The short staring contest she tried to win against both her father and Sirius, she lost.

Dropping her eyes she quietly said, "Sorry."

A moment later, first making sure the rebuke took, Harry said, "Hermione."

When she looked to him again, he said, "You are currently back in magical Britain and Sirius and I are both Lords of Noble and Ancient Houses. Actually, I'm Lord of _two_ such Houses.

" _You_ , are a muggle-born with very little rights... as you well remember. Your demanding tone and voice would have already insulted anyone else, but is now starting to insult Sirius's hospitality.

"You're lucky that Sirius and I are _somewhat_ forgiving of your actions. Many wouldn't be. Now _calm down_."

When it looked like his words had taken effect, he said, "Now, we know you want information. However, none one here is in any way _obligated_ to give you that information. Unless you start being a lot more polite and respectful, you _won't_ be getting it. And, even then, there are matters none of us will share with you, whether you like it or not."

Now almost in tears, she again looked up to Harry, "Sorry."

"Accepted," he said, " _This_ time. You are no longer a child where your behaviour can be excused due to your age. You're now an adult and are expected to be aware of your obligations and responsibilities. You can no longer be protected from consequences."

She nodded and again said, "Sorry, Harry."

"And what about everyone else?" he demanded.

She lightly flinched, but looked around the room. "My... apologies... I was being rude. I didn't mean to be."

It was a long moment before Sirius said, "Now. To your question about what else that Seer told us, it would be a lot. However, unless a matter is raised that specifically applies, what we learned from them is something we're not willing to share."

She nodded back and softly said, "Thank you."

Sirius nodded back, stood up a little straighter and said, "Now that's out of the way, take a seat." And gestured to the chairs around the table. "You obviously have questions and we'll see what we can do to answer some of them."

The tense atmosphere that arose began to dissipate again as people began to sit, or resit in the cases of Harry and Sirius.

"Wow! _Intense!_ " declared Tonks.

Once everyone was seated, Sirius said, "Introductions are in order, I think."

Starting from his left, he introduced everyone. He knew Hermione knew who they all were, but the Granger parents didn't and only he and Harry knew who the Granger parents were.

Dobby had popped back in and prepared a large serving of tea and cakes for everyone, even though breakfast had only just finished.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

"Law, eh?" asked Harry, after Hermione told them what she was studying in Massachusetts.

"Yes," she nodded. "I'm studying both an undergraduate degree in muggle law and studying magical law under a Master of the subject, Master Blackstone, through trying to hold down an apprenticeship under him."

"Sounds like you're terribly busy," said Harry. "How'd you find time to come here?"

"I sat the end of my first year exams at university two weeks early and last week," she replied. "And Master Blackstone was kind enough to give me the time off to allow me to visit.

"He claims not much happens after the first week of December until things pick up again after New Years. As such, he could _afford to do without_ my assistance for that time."

Harry caught the subtle smirk Sirius directed his way and almost casually indicated himself. That told Harry Sirius had something to do with that.

"The important question," said Harry. "Is it something you enjoy doing?"

"Oh, yes," she firmly returned with a grin.

"Good," he just as firmly said right back. "I always thought you had a head for law."

"And what about _your_ studies, Harry?" she asked.

"With Luna's help I'm currently studying to take my NEWTs," he shrugged. "However, she's insisting I study both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to go along with that."

Hermione turned a grateful look to the blonde and quietly said, "Thank you. Though I don't know how you convinced him to study those two, I'm grateful you did."

"I used my feminine wiles," smirked Luna.

Hermione seemed to know what she meant from the young woman's expression and almost immediately blushed.

Harry, wanting to quickly change the subject before Hermione - or, worse still, Sirius - could say anything, said, "I've also dropped Divination and will delay doing anything about Care of Magical Creatures until after I've got my NEWTs. Therefore, I'm studying Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History, Muggle Studies, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

"With my Occlumency skills now at a high level, almost all of what I'm undertaking will be the practical components, as I've developed a near photographic memory of everything I read."

"Hard work," she nodded. "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle such a load?"

She never saw the annoyed frowns both Luna and Sirius directed towards her. Her parents did, though.

"I'm sure," he confidently replied. "With the dark magic behind my scar gone... and the compulsion and temperament alteration charms Dumbledore placed upon me also gone... I'm finding it far easier to concentrate and figure things out. I'm now back and beyond the skills and figuring things out levels I was at when I was in primary school."

With a scowl back, she said, "I _still_ can't believe Dumbledore did all that to you, Harry."

Not offended, Harry lightly smiled back and said, "The people at the ICW found out the depth of what Dumbledore had done to me before they executed him for his crimes, Hermione. Trust me, I wasn't surprised by what they'd found out."

With her scowl still in place, she half-growled, "To think I once actually _trusted_ that man."

"Live and learn, Hermione," he said. "Just... be careful of whom you place your trust in, in future."

"Truer words couldn't be said," said Marc.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Hermione and her family were staying in magical Britain right through to just beyond Christmas. After that, they were returning to the US the day after Boxing Day to be back in the US in plenty of time before New Years. They already had plans for that day, spending it with American friends.

That meant they'd be here for Harry's award ceremony, at least. That was something they didn't know about until they'd arrived.

Hermione then spent the better part of two days being annoyed at Harry for going through the Veil; being angry at Sirius for hiding that he had access to a Seer and that s/he'd told him Harry was, at the time, safe; and at Harry for not immediately letting her know he was back when he got back.

At the end of the second day, after yet another of her bitchy whines, Harry grabbed her and dragged her into the library.

As soon as he was in, he slammed the door closed and pushed her onto a couch.

Shocked, she barely had any hope of stopping him.

Finally wheeling on her, he angrily barked, "Right! _That_ will be _enough_!"

Before she could utter a word, he barked, " _You stupid little bitch!_ You yet do not have _any naffing idea_ about just why you were kept in the dark about what was going on.

"You were kept in the dark because that Seer you now know of _Saw_ what would have happened if you'd been told!

"You were kept in the dark to naffing protect you and to protect the secret!"

"W-wha―?" she stuttered, after cringing back from Harry's rage.

"You, Miss Granger, are just too naffing _trusting_ of people in authority," he snapped. "If you had been told _anything_ about what was going on before you were informed yesterday morning, had a future where you would have likely ended up becoming the personal _sex slave_ of _RONALD NAFFING WEASLEY!_ "

As Hermione began to cry in the face of Harry's palpable anger, Harry calmed down a fair bit. Making her cry was not his intent.

With a sigh and in a quieter voice he explained. "If you had been told what was going on back shortly after I had gone through the Chappa'ai... what we now know to be more properly called the Astra Porta... you would not have kept it a secret. Further, as you weren't an accomplished Occlumens, you'd have been unable to keep Dumbledore out of your head and spying on your thoughts.

"Further, Ronald Weasley would have been given potions by his mother to _enslave_ you. Molly Weasley saw you as the counter to Ronald's slackness and lack of self-promotion. She'd have _used_ you to push her son into accomplishing something with his life. Those potions would then make you Ronald's _sex slave,_ good for nothing but pumping out the next generation of Weasleys and being the bread-winner of your home. That's because she knew _damned_ well Ronald wouldn't amount to anything without you there to push him. And... guess what?... _she was right_!

"If you were instead told I was back as soon as, or soon after, I got back... before I was able to take both Riddle and Dumbledore out... then you wouldn't have been able to suppress your _illogical_ need to trust that white-whiskered wanker and would have gone to him and told him _everything_!

"That would have probably... again... led you to becoming a sex slave for Ronald Weasley; but, worse still, me being again enslaved... by potions, this time... by that _naffer_ into again becoming his personal naffing weapon!"

With a roar, he added, " _It would have led to my death!_ "

As Hermione began to sob - in heartbreak, this time - again Harry sighed and tried to suppress his anger at the young woman.

"You were told as soon as it was safe for you to be told, Miss Granger," he said. "And you will _stop_ with the ill-concealed anger and whining about how you were left out of the loop. If you are _unable_ to get that bullshit under control... then go pack. You'll be leaving before the sun sets this evening. I, for one, have had _more_ than enough of tolerating it."

With that, Harry stormed to the door and wrenched it open.

On the other side stood Sirius, Luna and Sandi - Marc and Remus weren't there.

Harry looked at the three before looking at Sandi. He quietly said, "Sorry. But, I'd had enough."

Then, without another word, he went to the stairs and headed up to his room.

Watching him go, Sirius looked at Luna for a moment. She nodded back and said, "I'll take care of _him_. You take care of _her_."

Sirius gave a firm nod back.

As Luna headed to the stairs to calm her boyfriend down, Sirius turned to Sandi; only to find she'd already entered the room and was sitting on the couch, allowing her sobbing daughter to cuddle in.

He walked in and went to the armchair sitting opposite and waited.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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Up in his room, Harry was sitting on the side of his bed feeling all sorts of emotions. He was angrily upset with himself for losing his temper; disgusted with himself for treating a woman, one he'd once considered his closest friend, as horribly as he just did; disappointingly upset with her for doing as she was warned not to and trying to verbally bully everyone for the information she demanded; the same upset with her for not simply accepting what she was told; and again with Sirius for not slapping her down enough, right from the start, about her behaviour; and, generally, upset with the entire situation.

When the door opened and Luna walked in, he quietly said, "I don't want to talk about it."

As she headed to walk around to the other side of the bed, she replied, "I know."

Then she climbed onto the bed from her side before knee-walking across to his side and wrapping him in a hug from behind.

As Harry sighed and slumped back into her hug, she said, "What happened in the library is something that had to happen, Harry."

After a moment he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Hermione's constant demands for information she is not entitled to would have eventually got her... possibly... killed," she replied. "Your... verbally slapping her down for it... from someone she actually respects a great deal... means that possible future is now terminated. And the talk Sirius will now give her will cement that.

"She will learn from this and become a better person because of it. Do not fear she will not."

"I... hate myself for doing it," he mumbled.

" _Don't_ ," she firmly said. "What you did was a good thing... trust me."

With a sigh, he said, "I do. That doesn't mean I don't feel like a heel for doing it."

"Then gain strength from knowing you likely saved her life by doing it," she reasonably returned.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Down in the library, Sirius had calmly sat on the armchair while he watched 'mother' calm 'daughter'. Sandi was making all the right noises, but Sirius could see she was just making those noises because it was what was expected. He could see that she knew the yelling was going to happen sooner or later, too; and that the yelling was somewhat justified.

As such, Sirius didn't need to worry about what the Granger parents were going to want to do to his godson when Sandi calmed her daughter down. Moreover, he was kind of expecting Sandi to _agree_ with what Harry had said, just not with all the yelling and bad language.

It took a little while, but Hermione finally calmed down enough to notice Sirius quietly sitting opposite.

"Why?" she plaintively asked. "Why did he say those things to me?"

"He said a fair bit, Hermione," replied Sirius. "You're going to need to be a bit more specific."

"What about him saying Ron was going to turn me into a sex slave?" she whined. "He wouldn't have done that, would he?"

"Accord to... the person I know to be a Seer - they've been one hundred percent accurate in everything they've told me - one of the things they told me was that Ronald Weasley, if I hadn't arranged things to get you out of the country, was going to potion you to the gills to make you both fall in love with him and remain utterly loyal to him.

"They also told me that, eventually, he would have killed you. But that would not have occurred until you'd birthed two children for him; Rose and Hugo Weasley and in that order.

"It was a promise to that person for their help that I visited you and your parents that day that got you to agree to move to the United States of America."

"But why didn't you tell me about Harry? Why did you _lie_ to me?" she demanded.

"Careful, Miss Granger," he scolded her. "You're starting to try demanding answers again."

When she cowered a little, he said, "The goblins told me that Harry was still alive because the life-stone they hold for him that shows the life status of all their vault holders still glowed, even if it was quite dimly. It wouldn't have done that if he was dead.

"The Seer told me that Harry would return in a few years time, once others found him and brought him back. However, if I tried to go and get him, I would fail and die in the process. If I, instead, simply waited; then he would return safely in due time. Which is what happened.

"Further, the Seer told me... which I happen to agree with... that if you knew Harry was still alive you wouldn't have gone to the US. Or, if your parents had still managed to drag you there, you'd have found some way to sneak back.

"Believing that Harry was dead was what kept you from doing that.

"And, if you _had_ come back, Dumbledore would have again got his claws into you. You'd have then been reporting everything to him again, which is what he wanted you for, but including your knowledge about Harry being believed alive... and, if by some small chance you didn't tell him about Harry, being used by him to keep an eye on young Neville Longbottom; just as he had Ronald doing and tried to get _Miss Lovegood_ to do, after you left.

"That would have again led to you becoming a sex slave of Ronald Weasley... and being murdered by him in a few years after you'd first pumped out two sprogs to continue the Weasley line through him.

"That's why I had you promise not to try and contact anyone back here, except myself, but _especially_ any of the Weasleys or Dumbledore."

"You did it to save her from that life," said Sandi.

Sirius nodded, "Yes. I promised that Seer I'd do that. I was going to do it anyway, simply because of how much support Hermione gave Harry right up until that night at the Ministry. The Seer just made it more important and more... overt."

He then leaned forward and stared intensely at the younger woman. "And, Miss Granger, if you decide to disobey me and contact any of the Weasleys anyway, I might not be able to move fast enough to _kill_ Ronald Weasley first. I've no doubt that Harry is likely to beat me to the honour duel challenge he'd challenge the young man with... and kill him first.

"You've not seen how fast Harry has become with a wand. However, there is no doubt in my mind that Harry is faster than Riddle ever was. It was why he was able to kill the man... _and_ his entire Inner Circle... all together and while he was alone.

"While on the planet he calls Hadrian, he had to fight against an army of soldier-slaves of a being that declared himself to be a _god_. He both defeated that army and killed that being; again, all on his lonesome.

"While he was away, Harry came to an epiphany about magic and the way it is used. He developed a whole new way of using it and then used that way to defeat that army before he came back. Then, once back here, he used that way to defeat Riddle and his Inner Circle minions."

He then thought about it and said, "Once Harry calms down, ask him if he _wouldn't mind_ showing you a memory of him fighting the Jaffa, the slave-warriors he fought on Hadrian."

Hermione nodded.

Sirius only mentioned it because he'd also noticed she'd calmed right down again.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It wasn't until the next morning and at breakfast that Hermione felt Harry had calmed down enough to both properly apologise and ask... politely... if she could see a memory of him fighting the Jaffa on Hadrian.

Harry accepted the apology and also offered his own. He apologised for upsetting her as badly as he did.

That then had the pensieve brought back out and Harry then thinking of a suitable memory. In the end he chose two. The first was when he first met the Goa'uld and Jaffa, where the Goa'uld almost immediately ordered the Jaffa to kill him. The second was after he developed his speed ability and was in a fight against almost thirty of the Jaffa - and won.

After dropping both in, he said, "I must warn you, there's a lot of violence in these. Be aware, you will see bodies blown up and other bodies utterly mangled. If you don't think you can handle that, then I suggest you don't go in to watch."

Once he saw that they'd all heard, he then called Dobby to provide stomach-settling potions for those who would need them when they came out.

"I'll stay out, thank you," Sandi immediately stated.

"Wise choice," said Harry. "I, too, will not be going in. I lived through the actuality of them both; I do not need to _re_ -live either, even through a memory."

That had Sirius, Remus, Marc, Luna and Hermione all gather to drop into the pensieve.

As soon as they'd gone, Harry again called Dobby. "I think you just might need to also supply vomit buckets, Dobs."

The little elf gave a nod and said, "Yes, Master Harry."

A snap of his fingers later and there were four buckets arranged around the pensieve, but not in the way of any of those within coming back out again.

When the five came out almost fifteen minutes later, there were a lot of pale faces, but no one threw up. Even the chance they would was quickly quashed when Harry made sure those who needed them - Hermione and Luna - all took the stomach settling potions. Marc surprised Harry by seemingly quite stoic about the experience.

That was when he saw the man had that 'thousand yard stare' he knew combat veterans developed.

It took him a bit to figure out why before he thought he understood. He quietly asked the man, "The Falklands?"

Marc turned that expression on him, hesitated a long moment and finally gave a single nod back. He never said a word.

Finally, Hermione said, "That... whatever he was... what was it he said that had those other men in armour attack you?"

"Two words," replied Harry. "Kill him."

"He didn't care about his people, at all," she said.

"Nope," he replied. "They were slaves. He considered them nothing more than tools to be used and, when finished with them, simply disposed of."

"But, why?" she near-whined.

"Because they're the galaxy's big evil," he said. "For me to tell you everything I learned about them would take me many months. And I won't do it because it's pointless. It's not as if you ever have to worry about them. The Americans will take care of them."

Harry already knew from one of Luna's visions that the Americans, combined with many people from other NATO countries, would eventually eradicate the Goa'uld and free the slaves. But it was a few years away.

"Alright," she sighed, now knowing not to push it. "What about how fast you were moving? Did you perform some rituals or something?"

"No," he replied. "I learned how to use my magic to speed myself up. I've been assured it's time dilation magic, similar to what house elves use."

"Down to the duelling room?" asked Remus.

Harry turned to him with a thankful smile. "I think that's a good idea." Turning back to Hermione, he said, "Come on. We're going down to the warded duelling room in basement."

Sirius said, "Follow me." Turned, and walked out of the kitchen. Everyone followed.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

In the duelling room, Harry first had Dobby bring him his _kara kesh_ and he donned it as he stepped through the wards into the area opposite the duelling dummies.

Indicating it as he donned it, he said, "I took one of these off the Goa'uld one of the times I captured him. It's of a technology that's many many thousands of years old." He actually took one off the Goa'uld _both_ times he captured him.

Once on, he looked to Sirius and asked, "The wards are up?"

"Yep," replied his godfather.

Harry then drew his wand and looked to the dummies. Then barked out the command to activate them. "Level five! Activate!"

As the four duelling dummies immediately began casting, Harry was nimbly dodging. However, just as when he was demonstrating this for the other four residents of Grimmauld, he didn't cast back.

He gave that about fifteen seconds before he activated the kara kesh and, while holding the shield in place, stopped and looked to the audience. "That was some of what I've developed with speed. And this..." he indicated the _kara kesh_ with his wand, "... is how the _kara kesh_ works."

While he'd been talking, spell-fire was simply 'hammering' at the shield for no effect and dissipating

"Now for going offensive," he said, turning back to look at the dummies.

He then shifted his stance, waited for the opportune moment to drop the shield, dropped it and began casting back. It only took four seconds to drop all four.

Once all four went down, he barked, "Halt! Terminate!" And all four dummies simply reset into their deactivated stances.

"Back to the kitchen," he said, walking back through the wards. "I have one more memory to show you how effective this type of combat is against wizards and witches."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once back in the kitchen, Harry dropped the memory of his first contact with Dumbledore and members of the Order in the Alley into the pensieve.

"Go ahead," he said, "There's no blood and guts in this one. This is just me giving Dumbledore and his minions a very public spanking."

This time, they all went in.

When they came out, Marc said, "Something I noticed downstairs and saw again in the memory, the spell fire moves quite a bit slower than the bolts of energy that came from those staves the... Jaffa... were using."

"Yes," nodded Harry. "Trust me; I noticed, too. It threw off my reflexes a little when I faced Dumbledore and his minions in that supposed battle you just saw. It was the first time someone had cast magic at me since June 1996 and I was used to the energy bolts moving a great deal faster."

Hermione had come out, quite shocked. And took her a while to regain her inner equilibrium. Finally, she said, "That... was... amazing!"

In a flat voice he said, "That's what happens when luck is on your side and you're involved in a one man war against an entire race of beings that want nothing less than for you to die; preferably, _horribly_. I was in a fight for my very survival."

"Can you teach anyone to fight like that?" she asked.

Harry was a moment before he said, "Probably. However, I don't think it's a good idea."

Before Hermione could automatically go into one of her rants about the sharing of knowledge, he looked her dead in the eye and said, "I won't, because I need the advantage against those who want to see me dead. I just got through killing a supposed dark lord whose actions would have led, in about two decades, to the entire eradication of Earth.

"Many of his unMarked... and even a few of his Marked... supporters are still roaming free. I cannot take the even tiny risk that my teaching anyone else how to fight like that is eventually learned by yet another wannabe dark lord. The risk is too great. And a lot of that has to do with your belief that information _must_ be shared.

"So no, Hermione. I will not teach you how to do it. And don't even _think_ of trying to convince me otherwise. The decision has already been made and I will _not_ change my mind. However, I also won't stop you trying to figure it out and accomplishing it yourself. After all, that's how I learned.

"You're a bright young lady. Now that you've seen it can be done, you won't be rushing into it with the belief it _can't_ be and that you're on some fool's quest."

Though she first appeared as if she was going to argue the point, it was a quietly but firmly stated, "Hermione Jean Granger," from her mother than had her sigh and slump in defeat. Then she sadly nodded in acceptance.

As the day was starting to 'get on' and the award ceremony was the next night, Luna suggested they have lunch before then taking the afternoon to visit Diagon Alley to pick up formal robes for the ceremony.

It was a welcome suggestion.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After lunch and letting it settle for a bit, the household flooed to the Leaky Cauldron before immediately moving into the Alley.

Marc and Sandi asked if it was worth it for them to go and pick up robes as they were muggles. To which Sirius replied, "You're my guests and under my protection. As soon as anyone hears that, no one is going to object to your presence at the ceremony.

"I've already informed Minister Bones of the numbers attending as part of 'Harry's personally honoured guests'. You three were included in those numbers."

Remus added, "Don't worry about whether or not anyone's going to object about you being there, Marc. No one, right now, wants to upset Harry. If _he_ says you're to attend; then attend, you will."

"I say," Harry firmly cut in.

That put paid to any concerns the Grangers had about being in the midst of magical Britain's supposed 'elite'.

That's also when they reached the door of Madam Malkin's and went inside. No one was going to be mentioning how the Granger parents were muggles in the presence of anyone else. It would just invite problems that were easily avoided.

When it was his turn to be fitted, Harry was quite happy to go with basic black again. However, Luna once again put her foot down - again with the support of the ladies in the room - and Harry ended up with formal robes of a deep blue with silver trim. They first wanted to trim him in crimson with gold edging, but Harry flatly refused that colour combination.

" _Stop_ trying to dress me as a bloody Gryffindor!" he lowly, but firmly, stated. "If necessary, I'll wear the deep red, but highlight it with something else."

That then led to the deep blue instead of the crimson and then trimming it in fine silver piping and thread.

"Better," muttered Luna. "It suits you, even with your emerald coloured eyes."

Sirius then got away with flat black with gloss black trim; as did Remus. And Marc was fitted in the deep crimson Harry wouldn't wear, but it was trimmed in a slightly lighter red. It surprisingly went well with his brown hair and eyes.

For the ladies, Luna was fitted in a pale blue that matched Harry's deep blue, but had deep blue trim of the same colour as Harry's robes. It showed, without doubt, that Luna was Harry's partner.

Hermione went with a cream with brown trim that also matched her complexion and colouring; and Sandi wore a deep red, but not as deep as Marc's, with the same colour trim as her husband's; again showing they were together.

During a pause during fitting, Hermione asked, "What about Tonks?"

Remus replied, "As an active auror, she'll be attending in formal auror robes. It's required."

Once everyone's outfits were organised, Sirius rubbed his hands together and said, "Madam Malkin, we'll need swatches of the ladies' outfits. It's time to get complementary jewellery."

Malkin didn't even bat an eye at that. It was something she was used to. "Of course, My Lord," she simply returned, before organising the swatches.

As Malkin headed off to get the swatches, Marc quietly said, "There's no need―"

"Yes, there is," Sirius cut in. "You're attending as part of the guest of honour's retinue. It's no shave off my wand to supply suitable jewellery for the ladies to wear while attending."

"And if there's nothing in the Black vaults that suit," said Harry. "I'm sure there'll be something in the _Potter_ vaults that will."

With swatches finally in hand, the party then headed down to Gringotts.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The award ceremony would be followed, only twenty minutes later, by the formal dinner. That meant the award ceremony was being held early in the evening, at 6.00pm. It gave time for those who worked to quickly change into suitable attire before attending; for those 'honoured' with an invitation.

As such and expecting it, Harry was unsurprised when the ladies all disappeared the next afternoon at about 3.00pm to start getting ready. It was also when Tonks turned up, sent home for the remainder of the day by Director Hammer and with a 'bagged' set of robes hanging over her arm, that the ladies took their leave.

That left the menfolk waiting.

None of them had any intention of starting to get ready until about 5.00pm. Then, once they did, they were still ready before the ladies were.

The only part of his outfit Harry hadn't yet donned was the hair ribbon to tie his hair back. It was something Luna preferred to do for him and knew she'd be disappointed with him if he had Dobby do it. The elf, of course, was more than capable to do so.

It was when Harry was starting to get worried he was going to be late to his own award ceremony when Dobby popped in and said, "The ladies be waitings upstairs to be escorted down. Dobby was ordered to tells you to go up."

When Harry walked into the ladies' parlour one floor up with the other menfolk, he stopped in shock at what he saw.

The ladies were absolutely gorgeously attired. However, he mainly only had eyes for Luna.

She grinned back, did a slow twirl and asked, "You like?"

Not able to voice a response, he only and rapidly nodded back.

Then she frowned at him and indicated a chair. "Sit!"

As he moved to comply, she asked, "Where's the ribbon?"

Silently, he handed it to her.

As he sat on the chair and she magically brushed in the Sleek-Ezy, he was able to look around a bit better.

He noticed, of course, how nice the rest of the ladies looked. Even Tonks had allowed her base form to better show through her normal morph, but that was mainly because she had her hair the natural black of a daughter of Black.

As Luna worked on his hair, he'd managed to recover enough from seeing Luna so gorgeously attired to ask, "Why not the pink, Tonks?"

"It's not allowed while wearing formals, Harry," she simply replied. "However, I refused to allow myself to be in my natural form, other than my hair."

Harry understood, as he knew her natural form was a near spitting image of her aunt, Bellatrix LeStrange.

Once his hair was properly tied back, Luna tapped him on the shoulder and firmly said, "Done."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Because of the soot from the floo system, the household weren't taking the floo to the Ministry. They were offered a portkey due to the 'muggles' that would be with them so, under disillusionment charms, they trooped out to the backyard and slightly beyond the wards. And activated it from there.

It deposited them in the auror portkey arrivals room within the DMLE, just off the main room of the auror's bullpen. A Master Auror, wearing his own formal robes, was waiting for them.

As soon as their party 'landed' he looked directly to Harry and said, "Lord Peverell-Potter, Lord Black and retinue, please follow me. The Minister would like a quick word."

"By all means," said Harry, as it was to him that the auror addressed his 'request'. And they followed him out.

In Bones's office and into which they were directly led, Madam Bones and her Senior Undersecretary stood from their chairs as soon as they walked in. Both were also wearing formal robes.

"Ah!" she said. "Welcome, Lord Peverell-Potter and guests."

Then she indicated the array of chairs that sat before her desk and said, "Please, take a seat."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After a quick five minute chat, with Bones again going over the procedure of the awards ceremony, she handed off a small closed flat case to Luna.

"That holds the Order medal," she said. "Please look after it and don't open it until I call for it on the stage."

Harry had already been informed they saw no point in him being awarded three separate Orders of Merlin, First Class. Instead, they'd combined the medals into a medal with two 'bars', signifying the awarding of the Order twice more. It was based on the Order being award twice to another wizard about three centuries earlier.

"I'll be careful with it," Luna said, placing the closed case on her lap.

Then Bones drew her wand and held it in the recognised oath position. "I, Amelia Pauline Bones, Minister of Magic for magical Britain, swear on my magics there are no harmful magics cast, whether active or not, on the Order of Merlin soon to be awarded to Lord Peverell-Potter this very day currently held by Miss Luna Selene Lovegood. As I say, so I swear, so let me be judged by Lady Magic herself."

There was the tell-tale flash of magic and Bones then immediately cast the Lumos charm, followed by its cancelling Nox charm.

"Thank you," nodded Harry.

"Just in case," said Bones. "Like me, I know you to be paranoid enough to worry."

Harry smirked back and said, "I was."

"Now," said Bones, gesturing to rise, "I believe there's a whole auditorium of wizards and witches waiting on us to turn up. Ready to go, or do you have other questions?"

"No, just a demand," he said.

When Bones aborted standing and re-sat with a frown, she asked, "Oh?"

"Keep the Weasleys away from me," he said. "Except, if necessary, Arthur."

Surprised, she asked, "Why?"

"I don't want to get into it except to say Ronald Bloody Weasley is definitely _no_ friend of mine. And Molly Weasley and Ginevra Weasley have, in the past, had the unhealthy determination for me to marry Ginevra. That will _never_ happen; and I don't want that fishmonger wife's shrill screeching voice in my ear about how I'm supposed to marry the girl.

"Keep them away from me or, I promise you, I'll simply and immediately walk out; no matter _where_ we are during the ceremony or the dinner."

"Ah," she quietly said. "I take it there's something going on that I'd have to act upon in an official capacity if it came to light."

"Something Director Connie Hammer would have to act upon, yes," he replied.

"I'll make sure the aurors are informed to keep them away from you and yours," she promised. "Anything else?"

"No; we're fine," said Harry, standing.

"Just so you know," she said, also standing. "Molly Weasley has been trying to demand access to you. She even went so far as to let slip she does, indeed, expect you to marry her daughter."

"As I said," he firmly said. "It's not going to happen. Actually, I'm simply waiting for Xenophilius Lovegood to return to wizarding Britain to ask him for permission to betroth to Luna, here."

Bones didn't seem all that surprised, but Hermione was. Thankfully, she didn't press for further information.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When he entered the auditorium through an entrance near the stage, Harry was shocked by how many people were there. Of course, he only had about two seconds of seeing across the hall before he had flashes of wizarding cameras going off i his face, dazzling his vision pretty quickly.

He was just thankful that Hammer's aurors were making sure that none of them, or any of the public who were lucky enough to get in to watch, got anywhere near close to him or his.

With the exception of Luna, the rest of the party were shown to seats in the front row of the audience, while he and Luna were taken to the stairs leading up onto the low stage.

Once they were both sitting, Bones moved to the narrow podium with its built in Sonorous

"Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen," she began. "Today, I have the distinct honour of presenting the Order of Merlin, First Class, to our world's latest and once again hero, Lord Hardwin James Peverell-Potter."

While her own speech went on for about half an hour, covering exactly why Harry was being awarded a 'triple' Order of Merlin, First Class - complete with projected... edited... enlarged memories of the relevant events above a solicitor's pensieve - Harry almost groaned out loud when others also were called forth to give their speeches. They included the Chief Warlock, Miles Ogden, in Chief Warlock Wizengamot robes; the Head of the Unspeakables, 'Croaker', also in supposedly formal Unspeakable robes; and the latest Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, some woman from New Zealand who couldn't seem to correctly pronounce her vowels, who was there to confirm the ICWs support in the awarding of all three Orders.

Finally, Harry and Luna were called forward by the Minister.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Of course, there was a short break from the award ceremony before the dinner was due to start. And the Ministry's house elves needed time to reconfigure the auditorium into an over-sized dining hall cum ballroom.

For the break, Bones had already offered Harry and his retinue to rejoin her in the Minister's office suite. The offer had also already been accepted.

So, from the auditorium the party was gathered together by the aurors and, accompanying Bones and her Senior Undersecretary Diggory again, made their way through the same back way they took to get to the hall back to her offices.

As they were walking, Luna, who was walking alongside him, asked her boyfriend, "Did you see the Weasleys sitting up near the back?"

"Yes," he admitted. "It was hard to miss them; what with Molly wildly waving her hand to get my attention. As soon as I saw who it was I promptly ignored her for the rest of the ceremony."

She smirked and said, "You missed when she'd hopped out of her seat, soon after we ascended the stage, and tried to rush forward. She was blocked by two big male aurors and had to be practically dragged back to her seat."

Harry sighed and turned to Bones, "Are the Weasleys on the guest list for the dinner?"

"No," frowned Bones. "She did try to demand, through Arthur, she be invited though. Arthur's not high enough in the Ministry to get an invitation."

"Good," he firmly returned. "That she's not on the guest list; not that she tried to demand an invitation, I mean."

"Understood," she quietly said. "Though I was worried it would have been an issue regarding their not being invited until Lord Black informed me not to."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The dinner, while the food was scrumptious, was otherwise a boring affair.

Harry and Luna sat at the head table with Bones, Ogden and his wife, the Supreme Mugwump and her husband, a somewhat mostly recovered Connie Hammer and her male 'partner' and others at the wings of whom Harry only knew in passing.

Sirius had been offered a seat 'plus one' at the table, but had earlier declined it to sit with Remus, Tonks and the Grangers at a table close-by. Harry kept an eye on what was happening at that table, somewhat worried about how the Grangers would be treated by their other table-mates. He was pleased to see that there was apparently no ire.

After the dinner portion of the evening, the tables were cleared and the dancing began.

Harry was rather sparing of how much time he was on the floor, as he remembered his poor showing at the Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball. However, he did manage a couple of dances with Luna and even one with Hermione.

Most of the time he was being escorted by Bones with a couple of attending aurors from table to table; being introduced to so many people that, if he wasn't so skilled in Occlumency, he would have promptly forgotten all their names.

He was interested when introduced to Barnaby Cuffe, the Editor of the Daily Prophet, and his wife. He'd noticed a little water beetle he recognised sitting in the wife's hair.

With a direct glance to the beetle while talking to Cuffe, he said, "I'm thankful that Rita Skeeter's poisonous quill is not here, tonight. I daresay the witch would succumb to the desire to want to slander me in _your_ newspaper. That would, of course, have resulted in my later dealing with the woman, you understand, in a _permanent_ fashion."

Cuffe blanched.

"I hope you'll pass on the message from me that my threat to her, just because Riddle is dead, has not lessened."

"O-of course, My L-Lord," Cuffe stuttered. "I-I'll make sure she r-remembers that."

Harry just gave a stern nod back and allowed Bones to drag him off to the next person.

Once they were away from the table and moving to the next, Bones quietly asked, "Making friends, Lord Potter?"

"Ensuring enemies are not made, Minister," he just as quietly replied.

She quietly snickered.

Thankfully and as the guest of honour, Harry was expected to be the first to leave. He hung about long enough to get those dances in and having been introduced to every table before then making the decision to go.

However, even then, it was still a late night.

After giving a quiet word to Sirius that he and Luna were leaving, the two quickly escaped the night's festivities and left via floo back to Grimmauld.

"Whew!" he said, stepping away from the floo in Grimmauld. "Thank Merlin _that_ 's done with."

They were joined only ten minutes later by the others, including Tonks.

Once he was sure everyone had made it back safely, he said, "Well, I'm for bed. I'll see you folks in the morning."

"Me too," said Luna, quickly joining him.

Before he could leave, though, Hermione called, "Harry?"

When he turned to her, she softly smiled and quietly said, "Thank you for inviting us."

He grinned back and said, "You're welcome. It was nice having you there, Hermione. Thank you for sharing it with me."

And he and Luna were finally able to make their escape.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	21. Into the New Year

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty One - Into the New Year**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Among the mail that arrived for Harry the next morning was a letter from Molly Weasley. In various parts of it she: demanded to know why he had the aurors blocking her from talking to him; demanded to know why Luna was the one sitting with him on the stage and holding the case while he was awarded the Order, 'as everyone knows you and Ginny make a wonderful couple'; demanded he come and visit with 'his family' at the Burrow, where she was 'sure to cook him all his favourite dishes'; demanded to know why he didn't let her know as soon as he was back; and other similarly poorly-couched demands.

He just sighed and slipped the letter down the table to Sirius.

Apparently, Hermione received a similar letter, as she was reading it with a scowl on her face and looked like she was trying to use 'laser eyes' to burn it to smithers.

As it was the only letter she'd received since she'd been there, she'd only opened it once Tonks and Sirius scanned it for harmful magics. That's how Harry knew who it was from.

Thankfully, there weren't any. It was just a plain letter.

After passing his own letter to Sirius, Harry asked her, "I take it Missus 'Howler' Weasley demands information from you?"

Looking up and still scowling, she snapped back, "Yes."

Getting her anger back under control, she seemed about to explain before she simply and firmly slid it over to him. "Here. You read it. I don't think I can tell you what's in it without completely losing my temper."

Without a word, Harry picked it up and read it. And could easily see why Hermione was so upset.

Molly couched similar demands of her as she's made to Harry. But hers focused on how Ron missed her and 'was looking forward to re-establishing a close and long-lasting relationship' with her. But also went on about how Molly was 'disappointed' she disappeared so suddenly when she did. And demanded to know why she hadn't immediately let them know she'd returned when she did.

As he slid the letter back to her he asked, "How do you want to handle it?"

"Well, I'm _not_ going to go and see her... _or_ Ronald... _that_ 's for sure," she firmly replied.

"May I?" asked Sirius, holding out his hand for her.

She immediately slid the letter to him.

Sirius had already finished the letter to Harry and had set it aside. Now he read the letter to Hermione.

Once he was done, he looked to her and said, "You know what she's trying here, don't you?"

"She's trying to hook me up with her waste-of-oxygen youngest son," she grumbled. Then she turned to Harry and said, "It seems that Seer you know is right about that, too."

"I did not doubt it," he replied.

Sirius asked, "Want me to handle it?"

"Better you, than me," said Harry. "You _know_ what I'd likely do."

Sirius only nodded before turning to Hermione. "Hermione?" he asked.

She only hesitated a moment before she replied, "Yes. Please. I will be no one's... _brood mare_."

Pleased, Sirius said, "I'll go see Arthur later this morning at work and show him these letters, if neither of you mind. Then I'll go visit them both at the Burrow, once he's finished work."

"I don't mind and I don't mind you telling them I'm already in a relationship I intend to see through to marriage," said Harry. "Just don't let on it's Luna."

"And you can tell Molly, from me, that I'm only visiting Britain for the Christmas break," said Hermione. "I _will_ be returning to my home overseas, my boyfriend and returning to my studies and the apprenticeship I'm undertaking. _And_ that I was _deeply_ offended she referred to my parents as 'those muggles' and how I now need to keep my distance from her unless I be tempted to hex her right into Saint Mungo's for her disrespect."

Sirius grinned back and said, "That should do it."

Finally getting to the _Daily Prophet_ , Harry was pleased to read the articles about his being three times awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, and the resultant formal dinner were written without too much 'extra'. Even then, the only dressing up was as it applied to how pretty the ladies and how debonair the men looked.

"It seems my words to Cuffe have again temporarily stopped Skeeter in her tracks," he said. "She was actually there, you know."

Sirius, while as surprised as the others except Luna, was the first to ask. "She was?"

Harry nodded and said, "She was riding in Cuffe's wife's hair on her hairclip. From the look of the clip it looked to have been created with the idea of Skeeter riding on it, when Cuffe wanted to take her places she wouldn't have been otherwise able to get in; such as the dinner, last night."

"Damn!" said Tonks. "Hammer's going to be _real_ interested in hearing of that."

Harry had originally thought to use the woman as a ghost writer for a book on both his history and Dumbledore's shenanigans. Now, not actually having a use for the vile woman now that both Riddle and Dumbledore were dead, Harry didn't try and talk her out of it. He'd now let the rune stones lie where they fell.

Harry turned to Sirius and asked, "What're your plans for dealing with Molly the human Howler?"

His off-the-cuff comment of his nickname for Molly, even if he otherwise liked the woman, had Remus cough up some of the tea he was drinking at the time. Thankfully, it never landed on anyone; and Tonks's thumping him on the bank had Remus clear his lungs of anything that made it down and into his airway.

It did leave him a little red-faced, though. And he looked at Harry with both an expression of blame and amusement.

Sirius had howled with laughter, both at Harry's comment and Remus's initial reaction to it.

Hermione waited until Remus had stopped coughing before she looked at Harry with a frown. "That's not nice, Harry."

"But _is_ accurate, Hermione," he returned.

"It is!" laughed Sirius.

He finally calmed down and replied to Harry's question. "If all else fails, I intend to threaten them, Harry. I'll figure out what I'm going to actually say to her once I've spoken with Arthur and expressed my disappointment with both him and his wife."

"Disappointment with him?" asked Sandi.

Sirius nodded and replied, "As both her husband and her Head of House, her behaviour is reflected directly onto him. It's his responsibility to make sure she doesn't do anything that brings his House, as a whole, into conflict with others. And they all already know they're only one step away from being declared anathema to the House of Black and, also through me, the House of Potter.

"Her plans, as she's barely-concealed in her letters to Harry and Hermione, do exactly that. Harry has the right to challenge the man to an honour duel over it if he doesn't bring his wife to heel. And that's one of the things I intend to tell Arthur to ensure he actually knows that."

Marc gave a falling whistle in surprise and said, "In other words, it's a serious issue."

"Yes," Sirius firmly replied, all trace of levity now missing from his voice.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It wasn't until after breakfast that Harry finally had time to have a good look at the Order medal. And was sitting at the desk in his room closely looking it over.

The medal was, unsurprisingly, made of gold. The First Class was gold, the Second Class was silver and the Third Class was copper-bronze; not that it was any surprise to learn that. It was also a perfect circle with the only 'mar' to that being where it was solidly welded to a bar with a slot through it just wide enough for the accompanying ribbon to be fed through and remain flat. It was a gap of about one-sixteenth of inch high, by one and a half inches wide.

On one side it was moulded with a relief of the bust of Merlin taken from a one quarter, slightly sideways, turn; complete with the top half of his long beard. And the other side was smooth except where it was engraved with his name, above the date it was awarded, above the numbers '342, 343 & 344'. The three numbers represented the times the First Class had been awarded. His were sequential because he was signed off on being awarded all three together.

The one and a quarter inch wide ribbon, fed through that bar, had a half twist to make the ribbon lay flat in a Moebius strip. It also had a bar clipped to the ribbon each side. Both were, except for a small round disc in the centre of each, otherwise plain and looked somewhat like identical tie clips. The discs were actually the obverse face of miniature Order medallions. And the bar and discs were also gold as they, too, represented the awarding of a prior Order of Merlin, First Class. The two bars represented it being twice otherwise awarded.

With the exception of what had been engraved on the back of the main medal, all that information had been faithfully included as an article in that morning's copy of the Daily Prophet. However, it was more impressive when actually seen up close.

It was into this tableau that Luna walked in, leading Hermione.

She asked, "Still trying to get your head around it?"

"And thinking that one of these should have been mine back when I killed the basilisk," he sighed.

"Not one back in October, eighty one?" asked Hermione.

"No," he replied. "Only a completely stupid twit, without even a modicum of sense in logic, could possibly believe I had anything more to do with Riddle's defeat, back then, than to be a living target for him.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Whatever happened, happened because my mother... and possibly my father... put something in place; a trap, perhaps. And Riddle fell for it."

Hermione thought about that and finally said, "That... actually makes a lot of sense."

Harry lightly smiled at her and said, "Which shows you haven't been too badly infected, yet, by the logic draining disease nearly every other magical seems to be suffering from."

"Then why did you accept the Order for it?" she asked.

"In Mum's name," he said. "Think about it, Hermione. Can you honestly see any of those pure-blood bigots on the Wizengamot - irrespective of whether they're supposed to be Light, Dark or Neutral - awarding a muggle-born an Order of Merlin?"

She replied, "I'd like to think they would."

"And, yet," he said, "By the words you used, you also know they wouldn't."

She sighed and nodded. "I'm _sooo_ glad you don't see anywhere near this level of bigotry in the US. Oh, it's still there in some places and circumstances. However, it's so minimal and anyone caught overtly being bigoted to anyone else by the MaCUSA aurors - the Pride - is heavily fined.

"Rumour has it they suggest to the offender he or she move to Britain or one of the European countries. That, at least, gives me some measure of comfort."

Harry smiled back and said, "I'm glad you've found a home for yourself in America, Hermione. All the time I was on Hadrian I felt sure you were killed that night at the Ministry.

"That you have, instead, been living safe and hale in America makes me very happy."

"I wish I could have helped you in your fight against Riddle and... and... _Dumbledore_ ," she said, with the last name being almost spat.

"You did," he smiled. "I remembered you once saying how magic cannot be about wand gestures and incantations. That there had to be much more to it. It was that statement from you, together with what I remembered from that text on magic theory by Adalbert Waffling we bought as one of our texts for first year, that led me to eventually developing the way I use magic.

"It's intent, Hermione," he explained, knowing he was someone breachign his statement to her he wouldn't teach her how to wield magic as he did. "In seventh year you learned point and silent casting, right?"

When she nodded back, focusing quite intently on what he was saying, he continued. "That leaves you with intent and the will to make magic happen. The wand gestures and the incantations are nothing but... mnemonics, I think they're called... to remind your body how to channel your magic to make magic happen. They're just _crutches_!

"That's the secret to what I do, Hermione," he softly said. "There's no big trick or ritual to it.

"And it only works with cast magic. It doesn't work with potions or anything like that. For those subjects I'm still going to have to study hard to earn my NEWTs. And I've found that Luna is a great teacher." He then grinned and slyly added, "She gives good rewards."

As Hermione blushed, understanding what Harry meant by his expression, Luna didn't. She just lightly whapped him in the back of his head. "Don't embarrass your friend," she scolded him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As Christmas was fast approaching it was time to get out the decorations. That is, Dobby got out the decorations and put up most of them, except the tree.

"No tree?" asked Harry.

"No," replied Sirius. "In some homes in the magical world we burn what's known as a Yule log. But that's only a tradition that dates back a couple hundred years, just as the Christmas tree does.

"We had a Christmas tree... or, rather, trees... when I used to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. So, I thought the magical world had the same tradition."

"No, that was Dumbledore's influence," said Sirius. "And he only started there being _any_ decorations at Hogwarts only once he became headmaster."

"So... where do the gifts go before they're distributed?" asked Harry.

"You hold onto them until the night before Christmas," said Luna. "Then, the house elves gather them and distribute them to the foot of the recipients bed."

"Oh! That's what happened at Hogwarts," said Harry. "I thought they did that because it was safer - preventing possible theft - by directly distributing them, rather than leaving them under a tree in the common room... or maybe the Great Hall."

"Nope," grinned Sirius. "There were _some_ Yule traditions Dumbledore didn't dare break... or change. That was one of them."

As for the decorations going up, Dobby had them up within a few minutes.

Then Luna led him about to 'tour' them. Harry had to admit they were very pretty and gave the place a much more friendlier and welcoming atmosphere.

However, he liked it a lot when he discovered a tradition that Luna also liked. It had to do with standing under mistletoe. As soon as he went to step through a certain door, Luna grabbed him, indicated the mistletoe hanging above the door frame, told him what it meant and smooched him good and proper.

That was when Harry wondered if he could have the mistletoe hang over every door-frame and for every day of the year.

He hadn't realised Luna had picked up on that until she suddenly gave her tinkling laugh. "That would mean it would no longer be special, Love."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As promised, Sirius went and visited Arthur just after lunch and arranged with him to visit the Burrow that evening.

Then, after finishing his dinner, Sirius left.

As soon as Sirius was through the floo, Harry called his loyal little friend, "Dobby."

When the elf immediately popped in, he asked, "Yes, Master Harry?"

"Can you go and keep an eye on Sirius at the Burrow and make sure no one, especially Molly Weasley, tries anything untowards against him?" he asked. "If anyone does, pop him right back here, would you?"

" _Yes_ , Master Harry," replied the elf before he immediately popped away.

Remus said, "I don't think Molly's going to _actually_ try anything, Cub."

"That's not a certainty, Remus," said Harry. "Better safe than sorry; yes?"

Remus just gave a shrug and didn't push it.

However, it seems Molly didn't get a chance to voice or show her displeasure towards Sirius. Arthur had come down heavy in his role as Head of House Weasley on his entire family as soon as he returned home from work. He made dire threats of Disownment and being kicked from the family with no name; and had to silence his wife on two occasions just to shut her up enough for him to lay down the family law.

Once Sirius turned up, welcomed through the floo, 'Lord Black' then laid down the law regarding 'Heir Hardwin James Potter of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black' and that any further attempts to ensnare him into marriage with one Ginevra Molly Weasley, through whatever means, would see the House of Black declare attempted line theft and blood feud on the House of Weasley. Then added the same about Hermione Jean Granger.

Then sealed both with a magical oath, right in front of them, where he declared that if Harry started to show any affection towards Ginny, or Hermione towards Ron, he would immediately have both or either taken into custody, taken to Saint Mungo's and put through a barrage of medical tests. If either came back detected as positive for any mind altering magics, potions or otherwise, the declaration and blood feud would immediately kick in.

Arthur had to put Molly under both a body bind and a silencing charm before Sirius could even make the oath. However, once Sirius did, Arthur released her again.

However, by Molly's inconsolable reaction - which wasn't reflected in her daughter's reaction, as she actually appeared relieved - it was easy to see the woman had finally had to accept that her precious Gin-Gin would not be the future Lady Potter, nor would Hermione be the future Madam Hermione Weasley.

Before he left, Ginny asked Sirius for a quiet word away from the rest of the family, but with her father present. Sirius granted it and they went out to Arthur's woodshed cum 'mancave'.

There, she said that after Harry had had a go at her and her actions in school the first time she confronted him outside Gringotts as part of the Order, she had - on her own back and paying for it out of her earnings from professional Quidditch - started seeing a mind healer. From that she'd already come to understand and accept that her dream of becoming Lady Potter was a complete fantasy her mother had drummed into her head and that she did actually need serious mental help. She was now getting it.

And then asked Sirius to pass that information onto Harry, together with how she was sorry about everything she'd been involved in that was actually against him.

Sirius promised he'd tell him and did precisely that on his return.

Harry didn't know whether the girl was telling the truth or not, or whether it was simply another ploy, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt... for now.

It did not mean he was willing to have anything to do with her, though.

Later and in the privacy of their rooms, Luna told him it wasn't a ploy, but he should still keep his distance from her lest she be tempted. A 'request' of which he was more than happy to abide.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was a couple of days later Luna received an owl from her father letting her know he'd just arrived back in Britain.

However, Luna already knew and had already made plans with Harry to go and see her father.

He was heading in to Gringotts to arrange the to-be-offered betrothal contract while Luna was heading home to, as she put it, "Prepare Daddy to say, 'Yes'."

As Luna was about to step through the floo, she looked to Harry and said, "Remember; give me two hours. However, I think you'll chew up almost all of that in Gringotts writing up the betrothal agreement."

Harry didn't think it would take anywhere near that long, as the text had already been written up with Sirius's help. They'd gone back through the old betrothal agreements that the Houses of Potter and Black had both used in the past and drafted a more modern version off them.

Harry was actually stunned and appalled by the wording of some of the old Black ones, but the very old Potter ones were almost as bad.

"I'll be fine," he said to her.

A moment later, she was gone through the floo.

Sirius, who'd been watching, immediately asked, "Got the Potter betrothal rings already, Pup?"

"Yes," Harry immediately replied before he hesitated. "Sirius?"

"Yeah, pup?"

"If I marry Luna and she takes my name..."

"With there being no other Lovegoods left but her father, the line dies out; yes," said Sirius.

Harry frowned and said, "I'm going to add a clause to the agreement."

"To continue her line through one of her children?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Harry... don't you think she's already Seen this situation?" Sirius asked, demonstrating a rare show of a pure-blood using logic.

Harry frowned and said, "That's a point. I wonder why she never said anything. She _knows_ I would have listened."

"Harry, the House of Lovegood is only an Elder House," his godfather patiently explained. "If you entered a condition of the contract that one of your children was to take the name Lovegood to continue her line... and you don't have enough children to continue your _own_ lines..."

"A _noble_ House would end," sighed Harry.

"That's right," nodded Sirius. "However, even without the clause in the agreement to continue her line, there's nothing stopping you from doing that anyway. You just have to make sure you have enough kids to continue your own lines first."

Harry thought about that for a long bit before he nodded and turned to his godfather. "Thank you, Sirius."

Sirius smiled back and said, "You're welcome. Now, you'd best get to Gringotts and get the agreement properly written up."

Harry smiled back, gave a nod and stepped forward to the fireplace. He was gone a moment later.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When both Harry and Luna returned together just before lunch, both were sporting mile wide grins and both wore their betrothal rings.

Hermione had learned what they were up to while they were away and was one of the first to greet them. She did so with a beaming grin of her own and a squeal of pleasure over Luna's ring.

Peering closely at it, she said, "Ohhhh, I do hope _my man_ gives me something even _close_ to as beautiful as that!"

That then had both young ladies run off to show Sandi.

Harry just shook his head at how women - and even girls - got all gushy over a simple piece of jewellery.

When he found his godfather, Sirius grinned and asked, "Done?"

Harry grinned back and showed his own left ring finger.

Sirius laughed and called Dobby to bring them one of the expensive bottles of aged champagne from the townhouse's cellars and a half dozen glasses.

"What was Xeno's reaction?" asked Sirius as Remus and Marc came in.

"Exactly as the Seer said it would be," said Harry, seeing Marc before he answered. "He said that as long as Luna was happy with her choice of husband, then he would be happy as well.

"I _did_ have to promise to give him an interview for _The Quibbler_ at some time, though. He wanted to know of what fantastic creatures I ran across on Hadrian."

Sirius sniggered while Remus said, " _That_ sounds like Xeno."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The remaining days leading up to Christmas were, for the most part, calm in Grimmauld.

Shopping excursions were made to buy gifts, the Grangers went out to visit friends they hadn't seen in a couple of years and word came from the DMLE as to the punishments given to people who had committed crimes relating to Harry.

The trials of all the captured Death Eaters were nearly over, with Harry not requested - even though he was now a sitting Member of the Wizengamot - to sit on any trials due to how close he was to being one of the main victims.

However, Sirius had to sit a couple of them, but always returned to the townhouse upbeat and happy with the results.

Of all those captured who bore the Dark Mark, not one of them managed to escape due punishment. Especially when an 'expert' on the Unforgivables from the Department of Mysteries proved that none of the Unforgivables could be cast while a person was under the effects of an Imperius curse.

"The Imperius curse leaves one with a strong sense of euphoria," he explained. "As the Killing and Cruciatus curses can only be cast when one powers them with a strong sense of hate in one's soul, they therefore cannot be cast while under the effects of the Imperius.

"Then the Unspeakable went ahead and, with volunteers, proved it!" he laughed.

"He also gave a spell to the aurors that allows them to go further back into the history of cast magics on a witch or wizard's wand than the Prior Incantation charm. The new charm also indicates, through magical signature, who actually cast the charm through the wand.

"Then they only needed to cast the charm on the wand, show it being used to cast an Unforgivable at least once and who cast it and that witch or wizard were immediately sentenced to Life in Azkaban.

"Once they were sentenced to Life they're no longer considered a witch or wizard, let alone a pure-blood; which means they could then use Veritaserum on them and force them to admit all their other crimes!

"The Wizengamot are now churning through all the Death Eaters like they're on a production line, or something. Today, alone, we went through _eight_ cases; all guilty."

And laughed in happiness.

"Oh!" he suddenly said. "As for all those who sent you mail with compulsion charms or the like, once they were told they could be charged with Line Theft for what they did, they all coughed to lesser charges. The only ones who actually ended up facing court... and that was before a tribunal, rather than the full 'Mot... were the ones who sent you harmful mail, such as the idiot who sent one that was keyed to explode when the letter was opened. _That_ idiot was charged with attempting to end the line of _two_ Noble and Ancient Houses, faced the full 'Mot, was found guilty and was sent to Azkaban for Life."

Other than that, a lot of the time was spent in Sirius's home. The only oddity was when Dobby asked Harry to visit Potter manor once more to see all the work done; for which Harry was happy to comply. As the Granger parents were out that day, they didn't accompany him; but everyone else did.

In a very short time-frame the four house elves had worked wonders. Of course, they'd had help from other elves - including those not bonded to anyone - but the work they'd done, in Harry's opinion, was near miraculous.

The manor was not just cleaned up, it was as if it was sparkling new with perfectly established gardens.

The wards had also been repowered - apparently by the house elves working in unity - and the manor was once again ready for anyone to move into and be very happy.

On first seeing it again, Harry was stunned. It was a long moment before he softly said, "Wow!"

Also stunned, but for a different reason, Hermione quietly asked, "This is yours, Harry?"

"Yes," he replied. "It's the Seat of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter. The House is... headquarters, for want of a better term... for the House."

Once they'd toured the manor, Harry called Domo and Dobby.

When both elves popped in, Harry looked to them and said, "You and the other elves had exceeded my expectations, you two. I am _very_ pleased. Please let all those elves who worked to bring Potter Manor back up to standard that I am as pleased with them and thank them for their service."

Both elves beamed back in pride and happiness. "Thank you, Master Harry," they both said in near stereo before they both popped away again.

"Dobby," he then called.

When the elf popped back he said, "I think Luna and I will be moving into here shortly after New Years. Maybe the second or third of January. Please have things ready for that time."

"Yes, Master Harry," said Dobby, before he again popped away.

"If you were to ask Daddy if I can move in with you then, Harry," said Luna. "I believe you'll find he'll say yes."

Harry gave a nod back, not even thinking about how the young woman he planned to marry always knew of what he was thinking at the time he was thinking it. "This is another of those times you'll tell him to say yes, isn't it?"

She just smiled at him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Christmas was great, even though Harry had already declared it absolutely brilliant before he'd even made it down to breakfast.

As he walked into the kitchen and after wishing those already there a Merry Christmas, he looked to Luna and said, "The concept of leaving gifts at the foot of each recipient's bed might be a wizarding world tradition, but I like the idea of having a tree and distributing the gifts once everyone could sit down and do it like a ritual."

Luna smiled back and said, "You want to see the looks on peoples faces as they unwrap their gifts."

"Yes," he easily replied. "I want to be able to see the expressions on my _children's_ faces as they receive them."

"Then we'll do both," she declared. "We'll leave a small lot on their beds and save the rest for when we're all sitting together around the tree."

Marc cut in and said, "You two talk as if you getting married is a done deal."

"It is," said Harry. "It's been Seen that we'll marry. However, we've not been told how many children there will be."

Luna said, "We believe that's being withheld because the future, concerning that, is not yet fully determined."

Sandi said, "It must be nice knowing you're destined to marry and have children."

"It's a great relief," agreed Harry. "It wasn't that long ago I didn't believe I had any such future. I thought I was destined to die on Hadrian, alone or as a fallen in battle."

That put a dampener on the conversation. To lift moods again, Luna asked, "Sirius and Hermione not down yet?"

They were the only two missing from the table.

"No," said Remus. "Sirius had a late night. I don't know about Hermione, though."

"I was awake," said Hermione, walking in. "I was writing a letter to my boyfriend."

Marc asked, "You realise the letter's only going to beat you back there by a couple of days, right?"

"Yes," she replied. "However, it'll give him something to ask me about; once we're back."

As Sandi slightly giggled, Marc just looked a little exasperated.

Though she'd already unconsciously let it slip, Hermione had admitted to the non-Grangers about her boyfriend only a few days earlier. Her parents had already met him and, apparently, really liked him.

He was another muggle-born - no-maj born - also studying at University at which Hermione studied, but looking for a degree in Biological Anthropology. It was a field within human biology and the more general discipline of anthropology, relating to biological and behavioural aspects of human beings. He was planning on looking for the 'magic' gene that differed no-majs/muggles from witches and wizards.

Harry thought it was both a lofty goal and one well worth the effort.

As Hermione explained about her boyfriend, Harry could easily tell she thought the young man to be her equal in academics, at least. And it was clear she was very likely very much in love with him.

Harry had once thought of Hermione as a possible future wife. However he also quickly realised, at the time, he'd never be her equal or even come close to understanding a lot of what he knew she'd go on to find enthralling. That was when he began to think of her as a loving big sister.

Therefore, finding out some other man had captured her heart did not upset him. He was actually happy for her.

And Luna's relieved smile to him when Hermione wasn't looking told him that Luna had worried that wouldn't be the case. He'd softly smiled back and gently winked at her. And the pleased smile Luna gave back showed she'd understood he understood what had worried her.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As they'd planned, the Grangers left the day after Boxing Day, two days after Christmas. That gave them plenty of time to get back to Massachusetts and readjust to the different time zone before New Years' celebrations.

Hermione was almost teary to be leaving again, but also admitted she was looking forward to seeing her 'man' again. (An admission that had Marc, yet again, roll his eyes.)

Harry had to cover his smirk.

Then she told him she would try and return for 'the wedding', _if_ it was scheduled to be during a period she was off school.

"Whose wedding?" Harry asked.

She gave him the look she used to give back at Hogwarts when she'd thought he was being an idiot. "Don't be _wet_ , Harry," she lightly scolded him. "Yours and Luna's, of course."

The implied request to schedule it for when she had the time to attend was not lost.

"Send us an overall timetable of your studies, when you can," smiled Luna. "We'll see what we can do."

With one last hug to both of them, she joined her parents for the portkey that would take them to a warded and muggle-repelled room at Heathrow. None of Grimmauld's residents joined them, because the Grangers would go directly from the room and through the 'passenger only' entrance to beyond and they'd not be able to see each other again before the flight.

With them gone, Harry gave a quiet sigh and said, "Don't get me wrong; I loved seeing Hermione again and making sure she was alright, but she can be tiring."

When none of the others said anything, not even to disagree, he turned to Sirius and said, "I'm glad she's gone back to Massachusetts and has a solid boyfriend. Her being ensnared by the Weasleys while she was here was an ongoing worry."

"If she'd come into contact with them, we'd have immediately scanned her, Harry," Sirius assured him.

"As would have I," said Harry. "However, if they'd done anything to her, I then would've had to act against the Weasleys. That's something I'm _quite_ willing to do concerning Molly and the two youngest, but its effect on Arthur and the others would've still hurt and I don't want to cause _them_ any harm.

"That she's gone back to America and is, again, out of reach of their scrying bowl is a great deal of relief."

"You thought they'd try to scry for her?" asked Sirius.

"As hell-bent as Molly was to get Hermione for Ronald?" Harry asked right back. "As she was more than willing to try love and loyalty potions, I wouldn't put it past her to try."

Sirius frowned back and said, "She could _still_ try a scrying."

Harry grinned and shook his head in the negative. "Maybe. But Molly doesn't have the magical power or skill to reach that far. And I can't see her having the galleons to pay for a professional scryer to do a focussed scrying for her."

Sirius nodded and muttered, "Good point. Right on both counts, I think."

"As such, she's safe," said Harry, before he turned to Luna. "Yes?"

Luna nodded back and replied, "Yes. She'll also marry her man in three years and, even if they then do find her, they won't try anything. Molly would declare her 'sullied' and not fit as wife material for her son. And that will be the end of it.

"Molly would not accept that Hermione is not a virgin, even now, until she's at least married."

"She's sexually active?" asked Harry. Then immediately adopted a pained look and said, "Actually, I don't want to know; I don't _need_ to know."

Luna grinned back and said, "She _is_ twenty years old, Harry."

However, Harry was still relieved Hermione getting married would be the final end to the risk.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After a quiet New Years / New Millennium and a day of recuperation on the First, on the Second Harry and Luna moved to Potter Manor more or less permanently.

Then, now out of Grimmauld and at Luna's urging, Harry really started to knuckle under with his studies to get his NEWTs. It was Luna's intent - and now his - to have studied enough to confidently sit for his NEWTs at one of the Ministry-sanctioned exam periods at the Ministry in a room just off the offices of the WEA that were held over summer.

It gave him approximately six months to get everything up to 'good enough' to sit those exams.

What he didn't know was that Luna had already spoken with the new tutors arranged by her and Sirius and told them to 'downplay' just how well he was doing in order to have Harry try harder.

Harry would be happy with an Acceptable in every subject; however Luna was aiming for him to have Outstandings.

He could have gone for the exams earlier, but not if he wanted to include Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. That was the reason for the delay.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

On her return to America and after first contacting 'her man' to let him know she was back, one of the first things Hermione did was write to Harry and Sirius to let them know she and her parents had safely returned to their home in Massachusetts.

She also let them know, while her parents would be celebrating the New Year / New Millennium with their near-new American friends, she would be spending the time with her boyfriend. She was planning for her boyfriend to 'get lucky' for being such a good boyfriend and not being too upset she'd spent almost all of December and Christmas in Britain. She planned for them to be in his bed in his Boston apartment near the main campus of the University of Massachusetts, their alma mater, when the city's fireworks display went off at midnight.

On reading that, Harry had snickered, which earned him a light punch to the arm from Luna for being ' _such a boy_ '. When Sirius read it and laughed, he too earned a light punch to the arm from the blonde.

He asked her, "Have you Seen her being happy with him?"

He wasn't part of the conversation between Harry and Luna about it, when they'd discussed it earlier.

"For being such a boy about it I probably shouldn't tell you... but, yes, he's good for her," she replied. "Nearly all lines I can See show that she'll end up marrying him once she finishes her education. They'll make a wonderful family and will continue to stay in contact with us."

"Good," he firmly stated with a smile. "I'm happy to see the gold I spent on her won't be wasted."

That was why, a few days after he and Luna moved into Potter Manor, Harry was taking a break from his studies and was writing her a letter back.

Surprising him, Hermione had continued to use the name 'Hermione Granger' once the family emigrated. When he'd asked her about it, she said that Sirius had the goblins erect an anti-owl mail charm over their new home as soon as they moved in 'to stop anyone trying to find out where she lived via owl post'.

Unknown to her until over a year later, he'd also 'bribed' the Principal of Ilvermorny to add her as one of those at the school who weren't to receive any private falcon mail while at the school except from her parents or him, Sirius. It was a service the school provided for a small fee, to protect children from anyone trying to harm them through the mail.

Luna had been outside working the manor's greenhouse used for growing in-manor use vegetables and potions ingredients and had just walked in.

"Writing a letter to Hermione, Love?" she asked, before he could even say anything.

"Yep," he replied. "Anything you want me to add for you?"

"Just send my love," she replied.

When Harry nodded and wrote exactly that, she warned, "Mister Houhoutas will be here in about fifteen minutes, Harry. Make sure you're ready."

"Of course," he muttered, still writing.

"Let him know I've also planted dittany and fluxweed in the brown pots, would you?" she asked. "I don't want him to think those pots are empty except for the potting mix."

"Of course, Love," he replied.

Andreas Houhoutas was Harry's Potions and Herbology tutor.

"Thank you," she said. "Now, I'm going to go and adjust the wards to let him in and have another look at the ward scheme. I can already envision changes to it I think you'll like."

"Alright," he smiled at her. "Just don't do anything dangerous without me being there to rescue you if necessary."

"Of course not," she replied, bending over to kiss him on the cheek before she headed off.

Harry just gave a slight huff of amusement before he added the final touches to his letter to Hermione.

Hedwig, who had retained her ability to know where and when 'her wizard' needed her services to deliver mail even while he was gone, flew in and landed on the table before him.

"Hi, Hed," he softly said, running his off hand over her head and upper back feathers as he finished his letter.

She gave a soft bark back and lightly nibbled on the side of his index finger as he stroked her.

Less than a minute passed before Harry tied the letter to the owl's leg. She flew out a few seconds later heading for the International Owl Post collection point in the Ministry.

From there the letter would be magically stripped from Hedwig's leg and bundled in with all other mail heading out to MaCUSA by Ministry portkey, to then be distributed across North America by Falcon Mail.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

January slipped into February and, before Harry could properly comprehend it, Valentine's Day was only a couple days away. He was so focused on his studies he nearly missed it.

Wondering what to do for it and at a loss for something suitable, he visited his godfather. As soon as he was through the floo into Grimmauld he was greeted by the 'new' Black house elf, Prankster.

"Welcome to Grimmauld Place, Master Hardwin," the little elf said in an almost solemn voice.

"Hiya, Chuckles," said Harry. "I've just come to ask The Great One, Lord Paddus Footus, for some ideas for Valentines."

With a slight look of pain at Harry's mode of address the elf calmly said, "Master... _P-Pad-foot_... is in his office."

The way the elf near-spat the name 'Padfoot' had Harry snigger back. The elf was well trained before Sirius bought him over from one of the properties he'd recently inherited and had to fight against that training to address 'Master Sirius' as 'Master Padfoot'.

The elf's name wasn't supposedly Prankster; or even Chuckles, as Harry addressed him. He had no idea what it was, but knew Sirius had changed it to Prankster when he brought him over.

"Thanks, Giggles!" said Harry, walking past a then suddenly sighing Prankster.

Once he'd heard Harry's problem, his godfather pressed, "Harry, _ask_ her. This is not like buying a birthday or Christmas present for her, it doesn't have to be a surprise."

"That doesn't mean I can't do with hearing suggestions about what to suggest to her," said Harry.

Sirius thought about it for a long moment before he asked, "That picnic you and her were supposed to go on when you visited James's, Lily's and Selene's graves and was interrupted by Lucy and his two butt-buddies that day... did you actually ever get to _have_ that picnic?"

Harry was surprised and somewhat disappointed in himself for not also thinking of that.

"Damn!" he exclaimed. "No; we didn't!"

"Sooo...?" asked Sirius, with a smirk now playing over his lips.

" _Brilliant!_ " declared a now happy Harry.

"Then my job is done," declared Sirius, before then openly grinning back.

"Thank you!" declared Harry. "Okay. Bye!" And hurried back to the floo.

Two seconds later, Sirius heard his godson called to the house elf, "See ya, Rip-Snort!" as he ran for the floo.

"Master Hardwin!" the elf exclaimed back, scandalised.

With a quiet chuckle Sirius returned to his never-ending parchmentwork.

He didn't know why his godson had decided to tease his new house elf, but it was sure interesting and fun to hear and watch.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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Luna turned out to be all-for the picnic idea, plus having it in the same place. That was the small glen in the small grove of trees on the Lovegood property.

When they arrived with a picnic basket, Xeno didn't bat an eye. He only warned them, "Don't upset the fairies!"

"We won't!" Luna sang back as they hurried out the door.

When they got to the glen, Luna pointed to a small ring of mushrooms off to one 'corner' and said, "They're under there."

Not one to argue, Harry just went with it. "What do we need to do to _not_ upset them?"

"Fire is the main one," she replied. "Then it's heavy spices, particularly black pepper; littering; negative emotions, especially anger; that sort of thing."

Harry thought about that and said, "So, we don't light any fires or use any spices in or on our picnic foods. We don't leave anything behind when we leave. And we hold no bad emotions in our minds or hearts for the whole time we're here. Got it."

Luna grinned back and said, "I love you."

It took Harry a few moments to realise what she'd just said and turn a beaming smile on her. "And I love _you_ , Luna Selene Lovegood."

A few minutes later, she almost tentatively asked, "I know we said it could wait, but what do you think of the idea of us marrying in late August?"

"A summer wedding?" he asked. "I'm all for that, but why bring it forward from November?"

They'd originally planned for the wedding to be held on the weekend closest to the day Harry set foot back on English soil after escaping from the SGC.

"Because those are the first couple of weeks after Hermione's long break for the University year in mid August, the last couple of weeks before Hogwarts recommences and you will have very recently picked up your NEWTs," she replied. "A honeymoon then won't get in the way of an opportunity for you to study for a Mastery, if you want it."

Harry thought about it for not that long before he replied, "If you See it being a good time for us to marry, then I'm all for it. Actually, if you simply _want_ to have the wedding then, I'm all for it; it doesn't have to have anything to do with your abilities."

She beamed a smile back at him. "Thank you, Harry."

The day was a success with Harry happy his godfather reminded him of the picnic idea.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

That evening, Harry and Luna had just finished making love on a large rug on the floor before the fireplace in the main lounge and were sipping hot chocolate while staring into the flames. The lights had been dimmed right down to where the fire became the main light source and the wizarding wireless was playing romantic tunes from the WWNs scheduled 'night of romance' play list.

Luna calmly asked, "Harry; did you deactivate the floo before we did what we just did?"

Harry paused in shock for a moment before he muttered, "Errr..."

That had Luna suddenly giggle in surprise.

Harry sighed and said, "I suppose we should be thankful that Sirius, Moony or Tonks decided not to pay us a visit this evening."

The fire they were laying before was the floo point for the Manor and anyone could have called while they were in the middle of their 'mattress mambo'. That meant, as soon as the connection was made, the caller would have immediately been looking right at them before they could even react.

Still giggling a little, Luna said, "They wouldn't have. Remus is enjoying a similar evening with Tonks; and Sirius was spending the evening prowling the nightspots looking for a... shall we say... non-clingy agreeable witch."

"Did he find one?" he asked.

Luna smirked back and said, "Sirius never has problems finding an agreeable witch, Harry. His problem is finding one who isn't going to try and fall pregnant by him or is otherwise determined and planning to become the next Lady Black."

"Does he eventually find the next Lady Black?" he asked.

"I've promised him not to tell anyone unless he specifically asks me first," she replied.

"Then don't tell me," Harry firmly returned. "I have no problem with you concealing that sort of information. It's Sirius's privacy and he has the right to have it protected."

She grinned back, took both their mugs and set them aside and out of the way of getting knocked over. Then she hopped up onto his hips while he was lying propped back and reached for his groin.

"The night's not over yet, Harry," she sultrily declared. "And I know you've got more left in you yet."

As she fondled him he grinned back and reached for her nipples. "As my lady commands," he softly said.

"The Floo, Harry," she calmly said.

"Oh! Right!" he exclaimed, reaching for his wand.

Just because she told him Sirius, Remus or Tonks wouldn't floo-call, did not mean anyone else wouldn't.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	22. The Social Event of Whatever

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Two - The Social Event of the... Whatever**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
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As winter finally released its hold on Britain and the temperatures began to warm up again, Harry was getting quite comfortable being back on Earth and now living at Potter Manor with Luna.

Because he wasn't sure just what he needed time-wise for what he needed to learn to pass his NEWTs in the subjects for which he was studying, he left all the scheduling for that up to Luna. She then arranged everything with the tutors.

It was in March that she suggested to Harry he hire Narcissa Black, now brought back into the House of Black by Sirius, to become his appointments cum social secretary.

Confused, he asked, "Why?"

"Because, since we've moved into here and except for your Wizengamot sessions, you've become a bit of a hermit. You need to get out more."

He frowned and said, "I don't like all the staring."

"I know," she soothingly returned. "However, all that staring won't stop until the populace have had a chance to get it out of their systems. And the only way to accomplish that is to give them all the opportunity to stare at you."

He thought about that, sighed in acceptance and said, "And what does this have to do with hiring Narcissa Malfoy?"

"Black," she immediately corrected him. "She knows all the contacts and functions of the so-called elite of magical Britain, plus more on the continent.

"Further, another subject you need to be taught is the etiquette of the wizarding world, especially of high society. And Narcissa Black, I've no doubt, will be an excellent tutor of that subject."

He sighed and grumbled, " _Fiiiinne_. If you think its best, hire her."

She beamed a smile at him, kissed him on the cheek and, without a word, skipped off to the floo; _literally_ skipped.

He just gave a snort of amusement and returned to the assignment he needed to write on Mandrakes and the Mandrake Restorative Draught.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Narcissa Black, on invitation from Luna, turned up that evening for dinner with 'The Potters' at Potter manor.

When she turned up, she was clearly wary. However, so was Harry.

Luna just gave a snort of amusement and firmly scolded them both. "Stop it, the pair of you."

Turning to Harry she firmly said, "Harry. As I've already told you, Miss Black was not a Death Eater. She was forced into a situation, due to her marriage, where she had to support Riddle. It was not her choice to do so."

Then she turned to Narcissa and said, "Harry knows you were an unwilling supporter of the dark tosser. However, he's concerned you hold him to blame for what happened to your ex-husband and son."

"I do not," Black firmly stated. "Lucius and Draco were responsible for what happened to them, themselves; no one else."

Then she looked to Harry and said, "Lord Peverell-Potter, I swear to you I mean you and yours no harm. As I stated to your betrothed, Miss Lovegood, I am willing to make a vow on my magic and very life to that effect."

Harry gave a sigh and said, "Let us have dinner and an open discussion about matters. If, at the end of that, you are still open to the idea of providing etiquette lessons and be my appointment secretary... then we'll see."

The dinner turned out to be an excellent idea.

At first things were a little strained, as expected, between the two. Luna, though, was quite relaxed and even nudged the conversation in all the right directions for the two to communicate.

Thankfully and by the time desserts were served, both had relaxed quite a bit.

Only half an hour later, though Harry didn't force it, Narcissa made her vow to Harry with Luna as the bonder. And Harry then immediately offered her the position of etiquette tutor and appointment secretary.

She was quick to accept.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Narcissa was back the next day with a schedule of all the main events due over the next six plus months, plus the date of the Ministry Yule Ball, in wizarding Britain and for which she believed Harry should attend at least half of them.

She also brought with her a small stack of wizarding etiquette 'primer' books she insisted Harry read over the next month and a large scheduling planner she laid out on the breakfast table in the kitchen she beckoned him over to see.

Then she also pointed to the 'Potter' wedding date and how it had to fit in with a lot of other events that were due to occur at around the same time.

"Sorry," said Harry. "But it _has_ to be sometime within the last two weeks of August. We have guests coming from the colonies who have already scheduled it in within their own tight schedules. It would be best if it was the final weekend of August, too."

"Very well," she said, not fighting him on it. "Then I shall inform those who need to know that the date cannot be moved due to prior commitments of certain overseas VIP guests. I'm sure other functions can be moved, where necessary, to allow for it."

Then she indicated a long list of names with the details of who they were. "These names represent the 'really should invite' guests you should invite to the wedding.

Harry took one look at the length of it and blanched. "Errph! I was hoping for a _small_ wedding. Close family and friends; plus a _few_ important personages."

"Such as?" she asked.

"The Minister and her partner, the Chief Warlock and his wife, a few of the movers and shakers off Wizengamot plus their partners, that sort of thing."

"Oh, _no_ , My Lord," she smiled. " _You_ are a triple awardee of the Order of Merlin, First Class. Invitations have to be sent out across the world, not just within magical Britain. For a start, you also need to invite the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW plus her husband; and the other living Order of Merlin, First Class, awardees plus their spouses.

"The reason why I will not have _too_ much problem convincing the organisers of the other events in late August to move their own functions is because your wedding will be the social event of the year; if not the _decade_. As such, _everyone_ is going to want to be there; and that includes the hosts of the other events."

Harry just gave her a pained look back.

However, it appeared such an expression was like water off a duck's back to her. She only smirked back, clearly unwilling to give even an inch.

Luna just giggled.

"Let's keep things as minimalist as possible, Miss Black," he grouched. "Both for the number of functions I'll attend and the number of guests attending - especially mine and Luna's wedding.

"Besides, I'm working hard to earn my NEWTs at the moment. I'm undertaking a two year course and cramming it into eight months, just so I can sit my exams this August before I'm married."

"I shall endeavour to accomplish that, My Lord," she nodded. "However, I believe what you believe is maximum, will turn out to be well below minimum."

He just gave her another pained look.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was only two months later, while they lay in bed together before dropping off to sleep, when Harry finally admitted to Luna he believed it was good idea to hire 'Miss Black' for her role.

"I know," she replied. "Having her as your first point of contact when people want you to attend or do things have greatly reduced the number of those. The Minister, etcetera, kept trying to push me into agreeing on your behalf. They don't try that with Narcissa, because they know it won't work."

With a slightly angry frown, Harry asked, "They tried to... _push_... you?"

"Nothing terribly overt, Harry," she replied. "Just more along the lines of... _nagging_. _No one_ is willing to upset the fiance of the man who killed Riddle and his minions; which would, in turn, upset him.

"However, locking yourself away from all the starers and gawkers was doing you no favours. People like to see their heroes out and about; it gives them a sense of peace and security."

During the previous months and under Narcissa's tuition Harry had come to understand just why there were those who were feeling insulted by him due to them feeling shunned when he turned down their invitation, as host or hostess, to attend this event or that. That he... or, rather, Luna on his behalf... had turned down _every_ invitation was irrelevant.

Narcissa had used the excuse that Harry had been in basic solitude for the past few years between the battle at the Department of Mysteries and when he returned as to why he hadn't been attending any. However, that excuse had already worn overly thin and it was time to become more 'social'.

That's why, over the previous month and a half, he had attended a few 'small' gatherings. One he had attended was at Longbottom Hall and was kept to only the 'Light' faction on the Wizengamot. It was the first 'public' showing of Hannah Abbott debutanting as the presumptive next Lady Longbottom and Neville's fiancé.

Besides being an event where Harry could begin to mingle with his peers, it was also a golden opportunity to speak further with Neville and, now, Hannah. He was still a little miffed with her concerning her behaviour towards him in his fourth year; but she, realising that was why he was a smidge cold towards her, immediately apologised for that behaviour claiming she was both a young girl and under peer pressure from within her own House.

Harry accepted the apology, but did not let on that he thought her excuse was both too late and should have been offered without an accompanying excuse.

Of course, as with the other functions Harry reluctantly attended, he was asked all sorts of questions regarding how he managed to become so fast and what his life on Hadrian was like. He gave somewhat honest, but a little begrudging, answers. He made it seem as if he really didn't want to talk about it. He most definitely did not share his casting speed was related to time dilation magic. That was a secret that was firmly restricted to those he deemed family.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Two months shy of the Lovegood Peverell-Potter wedding, Narcissa laid out for them the guest invitation list, the arrangements she'd already made and other matters relating to the wedding.

On seeing the list, Harry nearly had a panic attack.

" _Three hundred and twenty eight guests?!_ " he loudly exclaimed.

Sirius, who was there and watching, snickered in amusement.

"Yes, My Lord," she firmly replied, ignoring Sirius. "And I've no doubt they, except a small few, will all accept."

" _Gahh!_ " he exclaimed. "How the hell are we supposed to _sit_ all these people? Is there actually anywhere that'll be _big_ enough!?"

"Space expansion charms, of course," she returned.

Harry was reading down the list and said, "I don't even know about _ten percent_ of these people, let alone their partners!"

"I'll be adding their details once they accept," she explained. "For instance..." she pointed to a name near the top and said, "That's the Supreme Mugwump and her husband..." and another, "And that's an awardee of the Order of Merlin; he's from Africa and saved a magical village from a Nundu attack back about twenty years ago."

He already knew the Supreme Mugwump and the other Awardees, of course

"Gods," he whined. "I don't think I really want to know."

"You _need_ to, Harry," said Luna. "I've no doubt Narcissa will be supplying you, where she can, with photographs of each of the important peoples; so you can identify them if... _when_... you bump into them at the reception or at other functions."

"That's a wonderful and clever idea, Miss Lovegood," said Narcissa. "I shall start arranging for such photographs, immediately. The idea is also a clever one for other functions Lord Peverell-Potter and you need to attend even before that.

"However, I believe our Lord met a great many of these people at that awards dinner just before Yule." And looked at him.

Harry frowned and looked down at the list again. Then started comparing a lot of the names with who he was introduced to on that night. He could then start to picture them all.

With a sigh, he said, "She's right; I do. However, I have no idea why we have to invite them to my wedding."

"They're too important not to," said Narcissa.

Harry just sighed and said, " _Fiiiinnne_. I wish you luck in finding a suitable venue for both the wedding and the reception, though."

The _Druid's Ritual_ reception centre," Narcissa immediately stated. "They're used to handling large weddings and will have everything very well organised we want organised by them.

"Any idea on who you want to perform the rites?"

"Yes," Luna stated, before Harry even had a chance to say he had no idea. "My uncle. He's a celebrant and well experienced in performing the rites. He'll also be a family member guest of mine at the reception."

"Mordacai Wilburton?" asked Narcissa. "Good choice. And I'd forgotten he was skilled in the old druidic rituals. You'll contact him and ask, Miss Lovegood?"

"Yes," Luna nodded back.

When they both looked to Harry he quickly raised his hands in surrender and said, "Don't ask me. If _Luna_ is happy, then _I'm_ happy."

Both witches smiled at him.

"Good choice," said Narcissa.

With a mental sigh of relief Harry turned back to the list of 'guests'. "So, we have this list to go through to remove those neither of us really want to see attend?"

"You have this list, My Lord, to add the names of those close to you of which you need to _add_ ," she replied, slightly chidingly.

Harry, once more, aimed a pained look at her.

As always, she was unmoved.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After grumbling about just how big a public spectacle his wedding was turning out to be for the next week, Luna called in his godfather to have words with him.

"You need to just grin and bear it, Harry," said Sirius. "The only way to get out of this is to cancel the wedding. And, even then, people will still look down at you for doing it.

"You're now considered... even more than _before_ you offed Riddle for good... as a National Hero. People are always going to want to rub shoulders with you and know what it is you're up to.

"As such, you're simply wasting energy being upset about it and, worse still, making it somewhat unpleasant for those of us who _are_ close to you. It's time you got over it."

Harry sighed and muttered, " _Fiiiinnnee_."

Besides, pup," added Sirius. "You've got to focus your energies on passing your NEWTs. You won't do well on them if you don't let go of your annoyance and irritation concerning how your wedding is going to turn out.

"Let the experts deal with the wedding while you focus on your arrangements for your honeymoon."

"Visiting the Potter properties around the world," Harry immediately replied. "I'd also like to know, if it was possible, if we could spend a few days at Black Island."

Sirius smirked and said, "Other than Black Island, where about the only things you can do is snooze and swim, what do you plan to do at the other places?... Besides _that_ , I mean."

"U-uummm..." stuttered Harry.

Sirius gave a snort of amusement and said, "You might want to look into activities you can do while staying at each of those properties, pup. For instance, have you ever been to an amusement park?"

"Ummm... no?" replied Harry. He'd also forgotten he'd promised Luna he'd take her to one.

"Well, that's just _one_ idea," said Sirius. "See if you can arrange any sightseeing tours or the like."

Harry gave a sigh and slumped a little in his seat. "Where can I―? Travel agents."

"Pardon?" asked his godfather. "Why would you need to see a travel agent? You already claim to know where you're going."

"A travel agency will have knowledge of and information on what activities one can undertake in just about any location in the world. As such, they'll have information about 'touristy' ideas for the locations around where each Potter property is located."

" _Non_ magical, yes," said Sirius. "But what about magical areas?"

"For the next couple of years, I think, I'd have to go in disguise or under glamour to any magical tourist spot," he replied. "We can save that for another time. It's not as if I can't afford a holiday touring the magical world a few years from now."

Sirius nodded back and muttered, "Sounds like a good idea, yeah."

"I intend for us to visit the Potter Penthouse in New York in the USA and see if we can catch a show or two on Broadway. I seem to remember, from my time at the Dursleys, that Broadway is in New York and that there are supposed to be plenty of theatres there where they put stage plays on. I think a night or two watching some of them might be nice.

"I also intend to spend some time staying at the Potter Vineyard in Australia. I think it's at a place called... _Baroosa_ Valley, or something. It's one of their grape growing areas, anyway. I'm sure we could enjoy ourselves going to wine tastings for a day or two.

"Potter Retreat in France also sounds nice. I don't know much about it, other than it was supposed to be somewhere Potters before me went to unwind and relax for a while.

"I guess I'll have to find out more about where those other places are to see what we can do around that area. Of course, there's also _apparation_ to take care of the longer distances."

He shrugged and said, "I've not laid out an itinerary yet. I'll go see what I can find out from a local travel agent and make more locked-in decisions once I have a better idea."

Sirius had been nodding along and, once Harry wound down, said, "Sounds like a wonderful idea. And, just because, I'll also keep it secret from everyone else. The last thing you need is for the media to find out and you end up having some nosy journalist or two follow you around just to take photos of you and Luna on your honeymoon."

"Yeah, thanks Sirius," said Harry. "I was going to ask you to do that, so it's nice you actually offered first."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

A relief to both Luna and Narcissa, Harry spent the weeks of June and early July working hard on making sure he was ready for his NEWT exams to be held in the examination centre attached to the offices of the WEA at the Ministry. The exams were held in mid to late July to give those who studied at Hogwarts and had to defer their exams the opportunity to sit them then.

After sitting a whole heap of 'mock' exams written for him by his tutors and being informed he'd done well, he knew he was finally ready.

For the last week before the exams Luna told him to relax and _lightly_ review. "You need a _fresh_ mind to sit your exams, Harry," she said. "That means no stressing out, no over-studying; just light revision."

"Luna?" he overly-innocently asked. "Did you know that sex is considered an excellent stress reliever?"

She rolled her eyes, gave a huff of amusement and smirked back. "Yes, Harry," she replied. "I actually _was_ aware there are some who believe that. Did _you_ know, though, that there is actually no evidence that supports that theory?"

"Still," he returned. "I find I happen to sleep very well after a night of love making."

She laughed and said, " _That_ , I'll acknowledge."

Once the date of the first exam came around - Monday, 10th July - Harry was as ready as he could be. He went into the exam confident he had prepared as best he could for it. It was Transfiguration.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Ten days later at the WEA examination centre, Harry set his quill down with a sigh. He had just finished the written NEWT examination for History of Magic, the last exam he would have to sit unless he came back at another time to sit exams for Care of Magical Creatures and other subjects he'd not studied for, before receiving his 'Diploma' showing he'd earned his NEWTs.

He already knew that the exams, both written and practical, he'd sat over the past week and a half were a fair bit easier that the 'mock' exams he'd sat a couple of weeks earlier. And had also confronted Luna about that after the third day.

"You tricked me!" he'd declared.

"No, Love," she'd disagreed. "We prepared you to sit the exams in such a manner you would find them easier than you expected. That way you would perform much better and, as a result, score higher than you expected you would."

That led to him sitting the final exam and sitting back in relief, knowing there was no follow-on practical for the subject, as he laid his quill down.

Once the proctor, Professor Tofty, rang his little bell - off a child's bicycle, of all things - Harry obeyed the instruction to leave his completed exam sitting face down on his desk and left the room with the other three, younger, examinees and made his way out. Before he left, though, he thanked the man for his service.

As a parting remark, Tofty said, "You should receive the results of your examinations by owl post no later than two weeks from now, Lord Peverell-Potter."

Harry smiled and said, "Thank you, Professor." And quickly left.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After giving a quick 'doorstop interview' to the reporter off the _Daily Prophet_ who'd caught wind he was sitting his NEWTs and would have his last one that day, he hurried to the atrium to floo home to Potter Manor.

He gave the interview because Narcissa had told him that if he didn't give such when and where appropriate, then the _Prophet_ journalist would just write what they liked.

"If you give them something to write... to _quote_... they're far less likely to make something up," she'd told him. "That way, you have some control over what they write about you. Plus, you can then use you no longer providing such interviews to force some level of compliance out of them to not use the opportunity to besmirch you."

When he stepped out of the floo he was shocked to find that all of his 'family' were there and waiting for him. There was Luna, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, her parents and even Narcissa.

He'd barely managed to straighten up from stepping out of the floo before Luna practically tackled him to the ground and resoundingly kissed and hugged him, all excited.

That had everyone, bar Narcissa and Andromeda (Tonks), cheering and laughing.

"Dobby!" called Sirius. "Champagne!"

And it was less than a minute later before everyone had a glass of the sparkling wine in their hands.

"A toast!" declared Sirius, raising his glass. "To Harry! Congratulations on finishing your NEWTs!"

"Hear, hear!" declared Ted (Tonks), Remus and Tonks. Again, Narcissa and Andromeda remained silent. However, both ladies still joined for the obligatory sip.

Harry laughed at all their antics and joined in.

However, his joyful relief was shot down a little later when, while the two were almost huddled together apart from everyone else, Luna said, "Now we have to decide what _Masteries_ you're going to undertake."

The look he turned on her had her giggling away.

When she calmed down, she quietly said to him, "Actually, there are other NEWT level subjects Hogwarts didn't offer, but used to, that I think you should study first."

"Like what?" he just as quietly asked back.

"Alchemy, Art, Druidic Magics, Enchanting, Languages, Rituals... that sort of thing."

"That's why you first suggested I study Enchanting for NEWTs this time around, isn't it?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "I thought you might turn out to have a flair for the subject, like me. However, it seems your flair lies almost purely with cast magics."

"You don't think I'll be any good at enchanting?" he asked.

"No, that's not what I meant," she disagreed. "I mean, you're not going to turn out to be a _prodigy_ of the subject. I still think, if you apply the same dedication to picking up a NEWTs in Enchanting as you did in the other subjects, you'll eventually get it.

"However, I saw early on that you weren't going to get it with only eight months of study of the subject; it'll take you much longer than that. That's why I removed it from your tutoring schedule."

"Ah!" he softly returned.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With his NEWT exams now out of the way, Harry was able to turn much more of his attention to the rapidly approaching wedding.

He'd had to step back and away from almost all involvement in organising the 'nuptials' because he was finding himself stressing-out over it. A lot of big things were happening and, according to both Narcissa and Luna, _had_ to happen. However, that did not mean they didn't freak him a little.

Thankfully both Harry and Luna were able to change, or have a decent impact on, certain things. For instance, both would only have two attendants. For Harry it would be Sirius and Remus. For Luna it would be, of all people, two professors from Hogwarts; Bethsheba Babbling and Septima Vector - the Professors of Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, respectively.

When Harry asked why those two, she calmly replied, "Besides Professor Flitwick, they were my mentors for both my time at Hogwarts and my main supporters for me going for my Masters in Enchanting. They're friends."

"Oh," he almost sadly said. "I know your circle of friends is incredibly small, but I thought that was because of the war and having to continually avoid Dumbledore."

"That was partly the reason, yes," she shrugged. "But my... peers, age-wise... I have nothing to do with."

Harry didn't push it because he already knew that, until Sirius had cast a proverbial stinging charm up Flitwick's bum over the way she was being treated by her housemates, Luna was treated appallingly by them. He had thought she'd made friends with at least some of them after that. Clearly not.

However, he would not push for further information on that, as he knew it was Luna's story to tell and she would tell it on her own schedule, not his.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After seeing what he later found out was some of the planning for the wedding, Harry stepped right back from it and pretty much refused to have anything else to do with it; other than what he specifically needed to do as the groom.

Luna had just smirked at him over it and didn't push it. She even spoke to Narcissa and told her not to bother Harry too much about it. He was bordering on a panic attack concerning just how many people would be attending and how much he would be standing out in the limelight.

"He'll do his part, don't you worry," said Luna. "Let me make sure of that."

Narcissa just nodded and raised the issue of the reception, specifically the menu for the event.

What Narcissa was organising, with the very valuable assistance of a professional magical event organiser, was everything to do with the wedding and reception; but not the honeymoon.

She needed a professional because the sheer scale of the event was beyond even her expertise in organising large scale events, such as what used to be the Annual Malfoy Summer Ball in August. That turned out to be a fortuitous happenstance as the weekend of the wedding used to be the nominal weekend of the Summer Ball; and was, since the 'extinction' of the House of Malfoy in Britain, now otherwise free.

After finding out that, Harry gave a direct look to Luna. She just serenely smiled back, looking like the proverbial cat who got the cream.

He never directly said anything because both Narcissa was present at the time and he already knew Luna had used her ability to foresee that well in advance.

He also never learned until after the next Christmas that the same weekend was now 'booked' to be the new and annual 'Potter Summer Ball'.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was eleven days after sitting his last NEWT exam and while sitting enjoying his lunch that Harry received an owl from the WEA via a Ministry owl.

As he first took a fortifying breath and mentally prepared himself for what he'd find within, Luna just sat back and calmly watched him with a pleased smile on her face. As usual, Narcissa was also present as she now, more often than not, joined them for the midday meal. She never said a word, just watched.

Opening the envelope and withdrawing the stiff sheet from within, Harry was quick to unfold it and read. And, as he did, his slight look of apprehension morphed into one of relieved pleasure and even a little surprise.

"Well, My Lord?" asked Narcissa after Harry had just sat there staring at the sheet for about fifteen seconds.

Snapping a smirk in her direction, he quickly looked to Luna before again returning to look at the sheet.

"Outstandings in all ten subjects," he quietly said.

As Narcissa let out a quiet gasp, he began to list them.

"Ancient Runes, O; Arithmancy, O; Astronomy, O+; Charms, O+; Defence Against the Dark Arts, O++, Best in Europe; Herbology, O; History of Magic, O+; Muggle Studies, O+; Potions, O; and Transfiguration, O++, Best in Europe. Ranked first of fifty-seven in wizarding Britain for the year 1999/2000. Ranked third of four hundred and thirty two in Europe," he softly said, with a wide smile.

"Sweeeet _Merlin_!" Narcissa softly uttered.

"Very well done, Love," said a happily grinning Luna. "With those results you will be able to undertake just about any Mastery you want, without anyone being able to claim you could only do so because you're the famous 'Harry Potter'."

Turning his own grin to her, he said, "That's why you kept from me just how well I was actually doing, didn't you?"

"Yes," she freely admitted. "A lot of what those tutors were teaching you over the past month or so were actually what you'd have been taught if you were already undertaking a Mastery with them.

"So. Planning on doing a Mastery next?"

He thought about that for a few moments before he gave a slight shrug and said, "Possibly. However, that will not be for at least a year. I think I've earned a year's break, don't you?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"And what next for you?" asked Narcissa.

"First up and after we finish lunch; I'd better go visit Sirius to let him, Remus and Tonks know," he replied while sliding the parchment down to Luna for her to read. "From there, I think I need to go in and see Madam Marchbanks. She's added a handwritten note where she's asked me to come and visit her. Then I'd better think about writing Hermione and letting her know. After that... we'll see."

"I meant longer term, My Lord," explained Narcissa.

"I think I need to get the wedding and honeymoon out of the way before I then begin to focus on anything else for the time being," he replied. "I know there'll be calls... even begging... for me to undertake a Mastery in Combat Magics, but I currently feel I've already done my supposed duty in fighting the Dark for the wizarding world. If anything I think I might give being a scholar a go for a while. Then I might... I don't know yet."

"I think you might enjoy teaching, Harry," said Luna. "However, you'll want to pick up at least two Masteries before you do that."

Harry nodded, knowing it was Luna's gift Seeing something. So he was not quick to dismiss it. He'd give it a great deal of thought.

"Not for quite a few years, Love," he said. "Even then, I'd only take on such a role if you took on such a role with me."

"I can see that," she nodded. "I think I'd like to teach Enchanting, one of these days; after the last of our children reach Hogwarts graduation age."

"So... at least about twenty years, then," he said. "That is, of course, if our last child is born no later than about six years from now."

"Agreed," she said.

"I would have thought you'd see yourself as either Minister or Chief Warlock," said Narcissa.

Harry gave a mock-shudder and wry grimace. "I'll pass on that, thanks. Politics, other than how it directly impacts me and the Houses of Peverell and Potter, bores me."

"And yet many times the way to best protect your House is to be in the Wizengamot tiers and in charge of one faction or another," she argued. "Politics may be dirty and uncomfortable for you, yet it may be the way to best protect your house."

Harry frowned at her and, though he knew she was right, didn't really want to hear it. "Stop being logical. You're beginning to annoy me again."

She just smirked back and Luna tittered in amusement.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The wedding turned out to be as pleasurable and as irritating as Harry expected it to be.

The ceremony/hand-fasting/bonding was, of course, the highlight for Harry. While he managed to stand tall and proud in his wizarding formal wedding robes and say what he needed to say with a strong and assured voice each time the druid, Luna's uncle, called on him to do so, he was also protected from anyone approaching him by the needs of the ceremony itself. On Luna's insistence, he also wore his k _ara kesh_ , as if it was piece of jewellery.

It was also nice to have Hermione there. However this time, instead of in the company of her parents, she was in the company of a young man the same age as her who wore glasses and just seemed completely bemused by the whole thing. This was 'her man'. The one Luna said Hermione would marry in a couple of years and was currently studying Biological Anthropology at the same university she was currently attending and studying Law.

Harry found him to be quite nice and felt relieved, now that he'd met him, that his once best friend would be marrying a man who looked like he would do very well by her.

The ceremony was a blend of muggle and wizarding traditions. Luna wore a wedding gown, was escorted up the aisle by her proud and happy father - who actually _didn't_ wear outlandish colours out of respect for his daughter and her about-to-be husband - and soft music played as they did so.

Once at the altar, the magical side of the ritual took over - the hand-fasting. The druid used the old forms of address and the two before him were bound at the hands by the old words of magical vows. Then the muggle side came back with Harry escorting his new wife out of the venue while the recessional played.

It was in the reception that the hyenas felt they could finally make their move. And they weren't the political hyenas that Harry expected.

It was just as Harry was winding up his speech to thank those who had worked so hard to make the day a success that they were 'rudely interrupted'.

He had no idea at the time who they purported to be, but they arrived by a powerful portkey just outside the main doors to the dining hall cum ballroom in which they were all sitting; and immediately stormed into the room.

There were half a dozen, all dressed in face-obscuring, hooded, flat black robes. And at least two of them immediately moved to grab a young witch each and hold them with a wand tip to their captors' heads amongst screams and frozen-deer-in-headlights inactivity from nearly everyone else.

" _Potter!_ " barked the clear leader of the group, striding forward onto the middle of the floor.

Harry gave a clearly heard sigh and said, "If it's _me_ whose attention you want, you address me as Lord Peverell-Potter... you ill-bred buffoon."

The 'leader' stood there with his wand drawn. He didn't immediately say anything back, but it was easy to see the anger he was projecting by how he held both hands in tight fists with his elbows slightly cocked. "You killed the dark lord!" the man finally snarled.

Already on his feet as he'd been in the middle of giving a speech, Harry calmly began to walk to the side to walk around the end of the head table. As he walked he said, "You're going to need to be a bit more specific than that. The way I see it, I took part in the death of _three_ dark lords, just in the past year alone.

"The year before that I managed to end a _system_ lord. That's someone who makes even the worst dark lords you can imagine look like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum."

And rounded the end of the table to start to calmly walk forward.

"So, specifically, which one were you referring to?" he calmly asked, coming to a stop about twenty feet from the idiot.

" _The_ dark lord, you half-blood mongrel," the man snarled.

"Ummm..." said Harry, giving the impression he was really trying to figure it out. "Nope. Sorry. Doesn't ring any bells.

"Oh! Do you mean Albus Dumbledore? After all, he―"

" _I mean Lord Voldemort!_ " the man shouted.

With a sudden snort of amusement, Harry grinned and said, " _Naahhh_... I didn't kill _anyone_ named Lord Voldemort. I think you mean the half-blood, bastard-born son of an impoverished near-squib witch, Merope Gaunt, and the muggle, Thomas Riddle, Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was _no_ lord... whoever you are.

"Though, I will admit he was certainly a dark _wizard_ , he was no―"

" _You lie!_ " the man shouted.

"No... no," Harry smirked. "I definitely killed him. Piercing curse to the middle of the forehead. Blew the back of his head out as the curse exited his skull after passing through and mulching his brain. According to the Master Healer, death was instant."

Harry was deliberately antagonising the man for, one, so he wasn't focused so much on where Harry was or what he was doing and, two, so that he would make a very major mistake and attack him.

However, part of that plan came unstuck when the man seemed to give a start of surprise before he said, "Enough!" Then he raised his wand more threateningly and said, "Drop your wand, Potter; or my people will kill their hostages."

While this had been going on very few people had moved and were frozen in immobility, unsure of what to do. The only ones who had were Bones, Tonks and Hammer, who had slunk off to the sides of the room and were trying to move down the wall to get closer to the hostages; and both Sirius and Remus, who were trying to do the same down the same wall as Tonks, opposite Bones and Hammer.

Harry just smiled back and said, "That is _never_ going to happen. You see... at the moment... the only thing keeping you alive is that you haven't actually harmed anyone yet. If anyone who was invited to be here comes to such harm... well, you'll _wish_ I only killed you and whichever of your foolish followers caused harm to one of my guests.

"Because, I will not just be satisfied with just killing you and them in retaliation. No, I'll hunt down your entire families and... after declaring blood feud on them... wipe out your families simply for making the mistake of being related to you."

The man clearly gave a start of shock at hearing that. "L-Li... D-drop your wand!" he tried.

Seeing it and hearing what the man tried to order, Harry chuckled. "You're one of those stupid bastards who think I'm a light wizard, aren't you? You seem to think I'll do anything to see that no harm comes to another, even laying down my wand when that would have to be the most stupid thing I could do. I'm not light, I'm more... dark grey."

Again he chuckled. "As I said, _that_ is never going to happen. No, what is going to happen is one of three choices of which you are currently the chooser. One: You and your minions are going to immediately drop your wands and unconditionally surrender to our mercy. Two: You or one of your minions is going to do something stupid, such as harm someone at this little party of mine, and I'm going to kill the lot of you - no mercy, no quarter offered. And three: I'm going to soon reach the point at which I no longer give a fuck whether you're going to surrender or not... and simply kill you. If you're lucky no one else, but you and your minions, are going to get hurt; which means your families will not soon follow you into early graves, as they would if any harm befalls even one of my guests."

Drawing his wand and aiming it at the moron, Harry said, "Choose now, or not. Either way, the only way you will _not_ be leaving here in magic inhibiting DMLE handcuffs is if you are dead.

"Time's ticking; and I'm _silently_ counting down to the time I'll have had enough and simply kill you."

Then he just waited with a slight smirk on his face. The 'leader' stared back at his cold Killing Curse green eyes that were locked on his own, boring into his soul.

Harry was just waiting for the 'crease'; that very slight gesture, always there, that tells a dueller when his opponent is going to move. Sometimes it might be a slight tic or twitch in the face, sometimes it might be a very slight shoulder shrug, sometimes even a small finger twitch, but it was always there.

He wasn't sure, even later, what it was. However, he saw the crease and instinctively snap-raised his _kara kesh_ , activating it immediately.

"Crucio!" the man suddenly blurted, his wand first beginning the twirl with the incantation on the jab forward at Harry.

The dark, dirty red curse sped the twenty feet to Harry... and was blocked by the _kara kesh_ shield.

Not even stopping in surprise that the _kara kesh_ actually blocked one of the supposedly unshieldable curses, Harry turned off the shield device as the curse splashed harmlessly away and immediately countered.

'Break! Stab!' he thought. The second cast in motion before the first even hit.

However, the first, the Shield Breaker Charm, actually did nothing; because the man was standing still in shock that Harry was able to successfully shield against the Cruciatus curse. His second, the same Piercing curse he'd killed Riddle with, flew true with the same effect. He nailed the man high, but right between the eyes.

With a small fountain of blood and brain matter erupting from the back of the man's head, the body was launched backwards as if yanked by the hair to land on its back. It then slid about five feet across the polished dance floor before coming to a stop, still on its back.

That's when the screaming started again.

Knowing the man was dead, Harry ignored the screaming and focused on his other unwanted guests. Then started walking towards them, completely ignoring the now dead body.

" _BE SILENT!_ " he bellowed.

Surprisingly, he got it almost immediately.

Still walking forward he stopped at a position he was still able to watch the other five.

"Just so you know," he said. "Other than being scared a little, none of my guests have been hurt yet.

"And just so you also know, I faced Riddle and his thirteen Inner Circle Death Eaters on my little lonesome. None of them, including Riddle, survived. And not one of them even nicked me.

"So, what's it to be? Are you going to be smarter than your leader, drop your wands and surrender? Or do you die? No other options are available to you.

"The time is... once more... ticking."

Then he raised his wand and gently settled into a duelling stance.

One almost squeakily snapped, "Activate!" but didn't go anywhere.

"That's not going to work, this time," smirked Harry. "I had _plenty_ of time to erect super-strong anti-portkey and anti-apparation jinxes before I even faced your leader."

He'd done it while working his way around the head table with his wand down by his side.

"Surrender or die," he almost snarled. "I'm beginning to _tire_ of this!"

Almost immediately wands started clattering to the floor and hands were being raised in the signal for surrender. It started with one who wasn't holding a hostage; but the rest quickly followed. Only seconds after his last word all five had surrendered.

With a smirk on his face he stood back up, but didn't lower his wand. "Good choice! Director Hammer; they're yours."

Quickly, aurors that had obviously been waiting outside after being called - probably by either Tonks or Hammer though their auror badges - hurried into the room and took the men into custody; professionally stripping them of portkeys and the like as they did so.

Two others hurried past him to the body now twenty feet behind him on the floor. They quickly had it on a conjured portable stretcher, the blood on the floor cleaned away and the stretcher hurriedly levitated from the room.

After the last one was hustled out of the room with Hammer and Tonks joining them as the two with the stretcher passed through the doors, Harry holstered his wand, spun on the spot and said, "Right! I was right in the middle of my speech, wasn't I."

As he walked back towards the end of the head table, he called out, "Sorry about that. Some people are just so _rude_! They could have _at least_ waited until I'd finished my speech!"

Suddenly he was receiving tumultuous applause, with people rising to their feet while applauding.

It was still going on when he finally reached his seat again.

Raising both his hands he double-gestured for people to sit down and quiet down again. The did so, although it appeared a little reluctantly.

Again with his slight grin he said, "You're supposed to save the applause until _after_ the speeches, folks."

That earned him a few weak chuckles.

"Now; where was I?..." he said. " _Ah!_ Yes. As I was saying... I would _especially_ like to thank Miss Narcissa Black. If it wasn't for her near tireless efforts on mine and Luna's behalf, this little soiree would not have been as wonderful as it is.

"I was far more prepared to take Luna, kidnap a druid and have him marry us before releasing him again; and for the both of us to immediately shoot off on our honeymoon without anyone the wiser. It is because of her efforts that you were actually able to witness Luna and my bonding and enjoy this wonderful reception!"

Then he led applause for the woman, who gave no sign she was pleased for the recognition other than a light pinking of her cheeks and small smile of pleasure. She waited a few moments before she stood from her seat and lightly curtseyed to Harry, before taking her seat again.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was as Harry and Luna were ready to leave when Director Hammer returned - obviously from the Ministry.

Taking him aside, she said, "The leader of your attackers was young Lord Nott. As for the other five, they were all hired mercenaries from off the continent. They have no idea what Nott's beef was with you, but they were well paid for the job so didn't inquire."

Harry gave a nod back and said, "That's actually a relief."

When she gave him a curious look, he explained, "I was worried a new dark lord had popped his head up, now that Riddle was dead. That it was Nott with hired mercenaries means the likelihood of that, based on this, is back down to being quite small."

She gave a nod back and said, "That's my view too. I just thought you should be the first to know. It'll be in the _Prophet_ tomorrow, as there's no way I could possibly keep a lid on this anyway."

"And I thank you for informing me," he immediately returned.

She just gave him a head nod of a bow and quickly walked off again, probably back to her partner for the evening.

When the two left only twenty minutes later, everyone thought they were immediately heading off on their honeymoon. They weren't.

Knowing it was going to be a long and stressful day, Harry had arranged to start their honeymoon after lunch the next day. This evening they were headed back to Potter Manor for the night, just the two of them.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The next afternoon, now dressed a lot more casually, the two newlyweds arrived from the swirl of a portkey on Black Island. They'd brought Dobby with them.

While Harry then slipped the hand-carved wooden ring of the Black family permanent portkey to the island into his pocket, he was looking around at where they'd found themselves. They were standing inside and in the middle of a small open-sided pagoda with a palm-frond thatched roof. In one direction and less than a hundred feet away across a wide lawn, stood what appeared to be a small 'Polynesian' cottage on five foot high stilts.

Though that is what it looked like, both had been warned by Sirius that looks were deceiving. It had been built with permanent expansion charms on the inside. It was actually a double-storied mini-manor with six bedrooms with en-suites upstairs; and a lounge, kitchen, dining room, office, small library, laundry and other amenities downstairs.

In the other direction the lawn stopped at a stone wall edge before becoming beach. Beyond that was, of course, the ocean.

"Very nice," said Luna.

"Mmm..." said Harry. Then, offering his elbow to his new wife, he looked to her and gestured to the house with a nod of his head and asked, "Shall we go see what our accommodations for this week are like, Lady Peverell-Potter?"

She grinned back and took his elbow. "Lets! Lord Peverell-Potter."

After an afternoon of first exploring the house and taking a walk up to the highest peak of the island, as suggested by Sirius, the two returned to the pseudo-hut just in time for a Dobby dinner.

Apparently the little guy had brushed up on his cuisine for island fare, because there was a lot of tropical fruits and the like, especially pineapple, in their multi-course meal.

That was also the last time they wore actual clothing for more than about an hour for the rest of the week. Luna had risen the next morning from their bed, showered and didn't put any clothes on but a 'wrap'.

"A little under-dressed, aren't you?" he smirked.

"I'll wear this for breakfast to not embarrass Dobby," she replied. "Otherwise, I consider myself _over-dressed_. I intend for my first swim in the ocean to be as the Maker intended - nude.

"There is no one on this island, but us three. No one's going to see us and no one can surprisingly visit us because we have the only portkey that would allow anyone in."

He laughed and said, "So be it."

After finishing his own ablutions he joined Luna downstairs wearing only an overlapping wrap tied at the waist.

By the time the two left the island a week later, both were now sporting light beginning tans and were only a little red on areas that otherwise didn't receive any direct sunlight.

And Harry had also determined that having sex in the fairy grove on the Lovegood land wasn't the only place outdoors Luna wanted to make love. If she thought she could get away with it, she was happy to have sex outdoors wherever she wanted.

Harry now planned to create a small glade in the woods on the property on which Potter Manor stood, just so Luna could continue to enjoy her outdoors sex kink once they returned to magical Britain. Of course, he'd also first be making sure he warded that glade to hell and back to prevent unwanted attention.

With their week over, the two once again dressed properly and Harry readied their portkey to their next destination - magical France and Potter Retreat by way of the French _Ministère de la Magie_.

They first had to go to the French ministry to check in as tourists, while Dobby headed directly to Potter Retreat with their luggage and to ready the place for their arrival.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	23. James Sirius

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Fair warning. Penultimate chapter._

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Three - James Sirius**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Six weeks after they first left, Harry and Luna were back in wizarding Britain. However, it wasn't all honeymoon and 'only them' time while they were away.

They were only in France for just on twenty-four hours when someone gently ward-knocked the wards at the property boundary to let them know they had visitors. It was the sort of 'knock' that was akin to a muggle someone knocking on your muggle front door.

Seconds later, Dobby popped in to report that a couple of French aurors were at the property line asking to speak to Lord and Lady Peverell-Potter.

Harry turned a pained expression on Luna, who only smirked back before she said, "They're here because the French Minister of Magic sent them to invite us to visit him for a short while."

"This is going to happen a lot, isn't it?" he grumped.

"Afraid so," she gently replied.

Harry sighed and said, "Let them in, Dobby."

Dobby gave a short bob and said, "Yes, Master Harry." Then immediately popped away.

Two minutes later he was escorting both aurors - one male and one female - into the welcoming parlour. Both wore uniform, but neither seemed even slightly perturbed or were hinting, through their body language, at being there to arrest either or both of them.

"What can I do for you two?" asked Harry.

The female, with a slight French accent, replied, "Minister Charlemagne wondairs if you wouldn't mind paying him a quick visit. He knows you are here on your 'oneymoon, but hopes it will not be an... inconvenience."

"Now?" he asked.

"At your convenience," she immediately replied. "Howevair, he is free at the moment, yes."

"Very well," he sighed. Turning to Luna he said, "I think we'd best dress a bit more appropriately first."

"Indeed," said Luna. She then turned to the female auror and said, "Please take a seat and make yourselves comfortable. We won't be long."

Then, before the witch could respond, immediately led Harry out of the parlour and towards the staircase.

It turned out the Minister really only wanted to meet Harry to shake his hand and have a photograph taken with him. However, he also wanted to ensure they knew that if France could do anything for 'the wizarding world's latest and famous hero' they needed only ask.

Harry and Luna knew, though, that offer was only an excuse to get Harry to visit him. After all, he could have simply instructed the aurors to pass on that message.

They encountered similar situations in Italy, Singapore, Australia, America and Canada of the places they visited. And every time it was basically just an excuse for the Head of magical State of that country to meet Harry, shake his hand and get a photo taken with him.

By the time they'd landed in New York, their last stop of their 'round the world' trip, Harry was almost certain all the Heads of State had read from the same playbook abut how to get their photo taken with a tourist 'celebrity'.

However, even with the short meet and greets they had to put up with that interrupted things, the two were still able to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. And Harry also used the trip to re-bond all the Potter house elves to the House of Potter, while also checking the properties to ensure all the relevant wards were all still properly functioning. Only the one in Singapore needed seeing to; and he organised that via owl mail to Gringotts before their first day there was over. Unknown to him, Luna was also making a list of the wards she wanted changed or added for each property they visited. She'd organise that once the honeymoon was over.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Once back at Potter Manor, the two spent a quiet night in the manor alone before heading out the next morning to visit folks to let them know they'd returned. They did not visit the Rookery, the home of Luna's father, because he was currently hunting exceedingly rare magical creatures in Sweden; and they visited him while he was on his latest expedition for their last stop before arriving back in Britain.

Instead, they headed to Grimmauld to visit Sirius.

As soon as they popped out of the floo, Harry called, " _Sirrr-ius_! We're _baa-aack_!"

Then Luna stepped out of the floo. That had Prankster, Sirius's house elf, pop in.

However, before the elf could even properly greet the two of them, Sirius practically ran into the room. He took one look at them, grinned and hurried over to scoop them both up in a group hug.

"Welcome back, you two!" he laughed, swinging them about a little.

Before either had a chance to say anything he released them both before grabbing Luna by the shoulders and turning her this way and that a little. "So," he begged. "Is this one pregnant yet? Am I going to be Uncle Padfoot in a few months?

" _Sirius!_ " Harry exclaimed, unbelieving his godfather would behave such.

Luna was lightly giggling and blushing. "Not _yeh-het_!" she sing-songed back between giggles as she was moved this way and that.

Releasing her and holding the back of his off-hand to his forehead, Sirius wailed, "Is my godson not man enough? Does he not know to poke tab A into slot B?"

"Oh, knock it off, will ya?" Harry grumbled.

Finally deciding enough was enough, Sirius dropped his hand and grinned at his godson. "Come on down to the kitchen. Prankster! Lay on tea, would you?"

"Yes, Master... S-Padfoot," said the elf before it popped away.

As Sirius then started to lead them from the room, Harry said, "Prankster's getting better at using your Marauder name."

"It's a work in progress, but he's getting there," said Sirius, over his shoulder.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After going through everything they'd gotten up to while away... at least, that which didn't relate to their sex life... Sirius brought them up to date with what was happening on the local scene.

"So," said Harry, after told the fallout of the 'Nott Incident' as it had become known, "There's been absolutely no evidence it was a conspiracy of any sort; just Nott, acting on his own."

"Nope," replied Sirius.

"And what about negativity directed towards me?" he asked.

"There was a single day of it," replied Sirius. "That was public gossip and a couple of Letters to the Editor in the _Prophet_. However, in response to those letters, Cuffe wrote an editorial in the same edition where he stated he was at the reception and witnessed the whole thing. He said that, if the DMLE even thought of charging you with killing Nott over what happened, then it was time for the Minister to think about replacing Hammer as Director; because it would be obvious it would mean that Hammer had turned into an idiot.

"He then went on to state he did not believe Hammer to be an idiot; therefore, he could not see you being charged. It was a nonsense to think otherwise.

"And Hammer was also quoted in the same edition as stating killing Nott was in lawful self-defence. And that she, too, witnessed the event.

"There was nothing about it since, other than the trial of the five mercenaries who accompanied the twit. All five were found to be wanted fugitives in other countries for capital crimes and were also found guilty of the attack on the reception. Combined with the evidence against them from other countries, all five were found guilty and found themselves sent to Azkaban for life, that same day.

"One side effect of all this," he continued, "Is that Hammer has spent a fair bit of time reviewing how you handled the hostage part of the situation. As the aurors have had to deal with hostage situations in the past, the way you handled it has got her thinking and she came to talk to me about it."

He then shrugged and said, "I told her how you once told me you will never negotiate with a terrorist; that it's a fool's gambit. And that you should never allow that a hostage is involved change how you would deal with the situation. It's given her a lot to think about."

Harry gave a firm nod back and said, "Good. I've always thought that allowing criminals to dictate terms just because they've got themselves a hostage is illogical. I've also thought that if a hostage is taken, then the punishment should be tripled.

"Start trying cases in court with that belief and the bad guys will very quickly see it as a losing proposition; and stop taking hostages.

"I think they should also allow hostages who make it through it alive or their families if they die, sue the living hell out of the hostage takers; whether or not they end up in prison or are executed. Then it becomes _financially_ unviable to take hostages."

"Enough of that," said Luna, starting to get annoyed at all the negativity. "What's happening in your private life, Sirius? Got a long-term girlfriend yet?"

"It might help if you were able to tell me just whom I'm looking for?" he snarkily grumbled right back.

"Not a good idea," she returned. "You need to enjoy the search by going through it. If you don't, the marriage won't stick. The search is what will help you find your true life partner and stick with her."

Sirius just gave a huff of amusement back and wryly said, "Thanks."

"It will happen, Sirius," she quietly said. "Just give it time and _yourself_ time to find her."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After the two spent some time with Sirius, even waiting long enough for Remus to turn up with Tonks in tow, the two finally made it back to Potter Manor to relax.

"About Sirius..." Harry asked.

"Less than a year," Luna replied.

Harry gaped at his girl- _wife_... for a few moments, still getting used to thinking of her as his wife and that she was now Lady Luna Peverell-Potter, before he gave a snort of amusement. Every now and then she would surprise him by answering his question before he even had the chance to ask it.

"Any clues you can give me on just who she is?" he asked.

"Nope," she happily returned.

"Do you know who she is?" he tried.

"Yep," she just as happily replied. However, she still wouldn't tell him.

After a moment he chuckled, knowing his wife was now simply 'tweaking his nose' about it.

He knew that, if she could tell him without screwing it up for Sirius, she probably would. This was another of those 'the knowing of a thing, changes the thing' and not for the better. So, he never pushed in those situations.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Life for the two Potters then quickly began to settle down. At the same time, both were slowly beginning to build up a circle friends.

After an initial uncomfortable situation over Harry's magical spanking of him - and him being discovered not to be the Chosen One to defeat Riddle - Neville turned out to be a good friend, after all. It was actually re-begun when the two worked together on various issues in the Wizengamot; now that Neville had finally taken his Seat in those tiers in his own right.

Once Harry learned from him that he was very quick to shed himself of the supposed friendship of both Ron and Ginny Weasley as soon as he could, Harry was more open to re-establishing his friendship with the other young man.

Harry said to him, "You figured out Ginny was determined to be the next Lady 'Chosen One' Longbottom, wife of the one to defeat Voldemort; and that Ron was nothing but a user, thief and spy for Dumbledore, didn't you."

"Oh, I had that figured out pretty quick," said Neville. "The problem was, I couldn't do anything about it until you dealt with Dumbledore. Then I could finally get them away from me."

"That must've been hard on Hannah," he said.

"It was," sighed the other young man. "However she both remained faithful and, knowing I wasn't falling for the Weasley duo's tricks, that I couldn't do anything about it until either Dumbledore was neutralised or Riddle was dead. You, taking care of both, freed me to be able to finally 'officially' announce our betrothal.

"We both knew each of us was the one for the other back in fifth year, irrespective of what the Weasley duo thought."

Their marriage would take place in the summer the next year.

The only surprise came when Molly Weasley was arrested and taken before the Wizengamot. She had apparently sent Neville an abusive Howler, found herself immediately arrested for 'verbal assault of a Lord of a Noble House' and sentenced to a month in Azkaban, dementor free, for her troubles. She was also fined, but the Weasley twins paid it for her.

Apparently, other than Arthur going on his proverbial knees to apologise for his wife's poor behaviour, the Weasleys left Neville well alone after that.

Harry, though and on Luna's recommendation, used the event to sever all ties with the Weasleys other than his existing investment in the twins' Weasley Wizarding Wheezes business venture. He needed an excuse to do so and Molly Weasley unintentionally provided it.

Later, Harry asked her, "I take it that was necessary for some important reason?"

"Yes," she'd replied. "If you hadn't done that, you'd have had to kill Missus Weasley about two years from now. Until this incident, she'd planned on trying to work her way back into your heart and make her daughter your second wife.

"She'd have then tried to kill me, failed, and you'd have killed her in her attempt."

"Second wife?" he asked.

"Yes, Harry," she replied. "In some rare circumstances, a waiver can be made for someone who heads two or more important Houses to take a second wife to better ensure the protection of the bloodlines of those houses. You, actually, would qualify with Peverell and Potter both bordering on extinction."

Harry pulled a face and gave a mock shudder of revulsion. "Errph! No thanks!"

Moving over and sitting in his lap before then wrapping her arms around his neck, she asked, "And what if I don't want to turn out like Molly Weasley, birthing a Quidditch team of children?"

"Then, you won't," he firmly declared, pulling her in tighter. "We have as many children as _we_ decide, together. If that means we stop after two... then so be it."

Surprised, she asked, "What makes you think we'll have at least two?"

"You told me," he smirked back. "Back last year, you said I'll be a good father to our _children_. That implies at least two."

She broke out into her tinkling laughter. "It's nice you pay attention, Love."

"Always," he said, moving in for a kiss.

After a long single snog she pulled back, looked into his eyes and, almost formally asked, "Well then, My Lord. If it does not offend thee, may I come off the anti-pregnancy potions?"

He happily grinned back and blurted, "Hell yes!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was only two months later when Luna, who had told her husband she was going out to visit someone to confirm some facts, returned and immediately sat Harry down for a cup of tea. They were sitting on two kitty-cornered lounge chairs in the parlour with a small plate of quarter cut sandwiches on the small occasional table between their seats; put there by one of the elves.

"Well," she said. "It looks like it's just about time for me to start writing that book on Dumbledore."

Confused, Harry asked, "What's changed? Didn't you plan to start writing it once you fell pregnant the first time?"

She smirked back and said, "Nothing's changed, Love."

Even more confused, Harry said, "Wait; wait. If you said you'd start writing that book once you were pregnant... and you're also saying nothing's changed... that means..."

In dawning comprehension he looked back in shock at his wife.

With her smirk widening into a grin she said, "Yes, Harry. I've just had it confirmed at Saint Mungo's. I'm pregnant. Apparently, I'm―"

That was as far as she got before Harry, jumping to his feet and, spilling his coffee mug of tea off his lap in the process, started jumping around in joy, shouting near-nonsense to the room. "We're pregnant! I'm gonna be a daddy! We're gonna be parents! We're―"

He suddenly froze for a moment, while Luna was giggling.

"Oh, God!" he softly said, staring off into space. "W-we're gonna be parents! I'm gonna be a daddy!" And collapsed back onto the lounge.

Setting her own tea cup and saucer aside on the table - Dobby or one of the other house elves had already popped in to clean up the spilled tea and the broken coffee mug - she moved over to sit alongside her severely shocked husband. Then wrapped her arms around him.

"As I said quite some time ago, Love," she quietly said. "You're going to be a _great_ daddy."

That had Harry relax a bit. "Promise?" he plaintively asked.

"Promise," she firmly returned.

They sat there for a few moments with Luna cuddling into him. Eventually he asked, "Who do we tell first?"

"We can't... yet," she replied. "We need to hold off until the end of the first trimester. That's in a little under two months."

At first a little upset, Harry clamped down on his Occlumency and just nodded. "I take it there's a very good reason. Can I _please_ know why?"

She nodded and said, "I know I will not lose this baby. I also know it's going to be a boy. However, there exists a certain risk in pregnancies that the mother can lose the first baby for whatever reason in the first trimester. As such, it is always strongly recommended by the healers that the parents not announce the pregnancy before the first trimester is done. As such, it's become tradition not to."

Harry thought about that for a bit before he said, "And, if we announce it... we break that tradition. And we can't tell them why we're confident we could."

"Precisely," she nodded.

Firming up, he said, "Then... as soon as we can... we tell your dad, first, then Sirius, then everyone else."

"As you would put it, sounds like a plan," she smirked.

"Hang on," he suddenly said. "How sure are you that the staff at Saint Mungo's, who you had to see to confirm it, won't blab about it before we have a chance to announce it."

"Very," she smiled. "I made sure of that."

Frowning back a little he asked, "You didn't obliviate them or anything, did you?"

"No," she replied. "I simply reminded them of their oaths and that, if they do blab about it before we officially announce it, you or I will immediately declare them Oathbreakers; no excuses."

"Good," he firmly stated. "Because that's _exactly_ what I'd do."

"I know," she grinned. "That's why I had no problem telling them that."

Just as she said she would, Luna began writing and researching what would become within the year the preeminent biographical account of the life of one Albus Dumbledore that very afternoon.

Of course, her research was only needed to provide evidence of what she already knew. However, knowing what she knew, meant she knew where she needed to go to gather that evidence.

"And while I'm doing that, Love," she said. "I think it is past time you started thinking about what you're going to do with all your spare time now. I don't want to be married to a... what's the term?... couch potato; yes."

"I need to make sure there's going to be plenty of gold available to us for our growing family," he declared. "I think I need to go in and see Rockgnasher about our share and property investment portfolio."

"Sounds good," she said. "But don't you think you should come up with some ideas to implement first?"

Surprised, he said, "Errr... yes. Yes, I see what you mean."

Looking at her more fully he said, "You know; I've been a bit of twit."

She smiled back and asked, "Finally going to ask me, are you?"

With a slightly pained sigh, he nodded and said, "Yes. Can you write down what investment opportunities you know of from your gift, or if your gift has given you any clues into, that I should see about investing the Potter investment portfolio into?"

"I'll write it down this very day, Love," she agreed. "Send an owl to Rockgnasher and organise an appointment to see him late morning tomorrow."

Harry gave a nod and began to walk towards his office when he stopped and turned back with a grin on his face. He softly, but excitedly, said, "We're going to be parents."

She giggled back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

With Luna's visions and Harry's belief in her, the Potter portfolio began to see immediate improvements and growth.

Luna was using the time to gather her evidence, including interviews with those still alive who knew Dumbledore when he was either a small child or a student at Hogwarts.

She also knew that the Flamel's were still alive, that the Philosopher's Stone at Hogwarts back in 1991/92 was a fake and how to get in contact with them. Apparently, whenever either was upset at Dumbledore, Perenelle used to call him 'Wulfric' and Nicholas used to call him 'Brian' just to annoy him. It was their way of demonstrating they knew Wulfric and Brian weren't actually part of his real name.

She also contacted and interviewed a reluctant Elphias Doge, an uncaring Bathilda Bagshot, and a very willing Griselda Marchbanks; all of whom knew Dumbledore quite well back when he was a child.

She also received permission off Headmistress McGonagall, who only received a written reprimand for her actions relating to Harry over the years, to interview the portraits of Headmasters Phineas Black and Armando Dippet and Headmistress Dilys Derwent. Black was both Dumbledore's Potions Professor when he was a student, moving on to be Headmaster in Dumbledore's last year. Dilys Derwent was the next Head and was the one to hire Dumbledore as Transfiguration Professor after he claimed to have completed his Masteries in Transfiguration and Alchemy. And Dippet was the Headmaster at the time Dumbledore was 'promoted' above other applicants to the role of Deputy Headmaster, before eventually replacing him.

Of the two Masteries, the first was true; the second, according to Flamel, was actually a lie. Dumbledore had demanded Flamel recognise him as having completed his apprenticeship with him, but Flamel had refused claiming he wasn't ready. Dumbledore had another Master of Alchemy of the time 'grant' him his mastery in the subject - which Flamel claimed to have actually been 'bought'.

In her interview of Dippet, the balding and partially deaf old man in the portrait claimed Dumbledore, after he succeeded to the post of Headmaster, had admitted that he'd dosed the old man with a minor loyalty potion to get the old man to select him as Deputy; and then claimed it was 'For the Greater Good' he be so. Then he ordered, as Headmaster, the portraits not to tell anyone what he'd admitted to.

McGonagall, who'd been listening in from behind her desk while Luna interviewed Dippet, was visibly _appalled_ at what she'd learned during those interviews. However, in respect for Luna, she would not speak of what she'd learned that day with anyone until Luna published her book. However, just on what she'd learned that day alone, she knew Luna's book was going to make Skeeter's book look poorly researched.

When Luna's tummy began to show signs of her pregnancy before the ninety days were up she felt it was close enough to the three months to 'come clean' with family and friends as to her now carrying the next Potter heir.

Her father, the first they told, blinked twice and then slowly smiled. "I'm going to be a grandfather," he softly said. Then he looked at Harry and quietly said, "Thank you."

Harry thought it was the sanest he'd ever seen the man; and that included at his and Luna's hand-fasting.

"Know his name yet?" asked Xeno.

Luna nodded and replied, "James Sirius Peverell-Potter."

Luna had 'convinced' Harry of that only six weeks previous. However, Harry had already thought of those names and a couple others before he'd raised the subject with her.

He'd turned a gobsmacked expression on her before she gave that smile that said she'd already Seen the name. And he sighed.

"Well, that was easy," he'd said.

Sirius reacted similar to how Harry did and then immediately declared - as he had two names of Marauders - he'd be raised as a Marauder. Luna vehemently disagreed and, after pouting about it, Sirius acquiesced.

"I still get to spoil him, though; right?" he'd begged.

"Within reason," she replied. "And you'll be treating our second son the same."

"Hey, woah!" Harry immediately exclaimed. "Let's see how he goes with our first, before we start giving him carte blanche for our second."

"Awww!" Sirius whined. "No picking on Lord Padfoot; okay? I can be good."

Harry just grinned back before he suddenly had an idea and turned to his wife. "We need to talk about something when we get home," he said.

Luna nodded. She already knew what he needed to talk to her about; picking a godfather for their first son.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Six and a half months later, Harry was woken by his now very pregnant wife.

Waking, he muzzily asked, "Mmm?"

Sounding a little in pain, she said, "It's time for you to take me to the hospital... daddy."

"To the hosss―" That was as far as got before his eyes snapped wide open and he received a jolt of adrenaline to his body, bringing him to full wakefulness.

Sitting bolt upright in bed he spun to his lady and asked, "You're sure?"

"Yesss..." she almost hissed while grimacing. A long moment later and after her grimace had faded away, she said, "The contractions have started."

Harry immediately leapt out of bed and grabbed Luna's 'go' bag. The one already packed with what she'd need for a short stay in hospital giving birth to their son.

"Right!" he declared. "Let's go!"

A little annoyed Luna said, "Settle down, would you? I'm in labour and the contractions have only just started. We _at least_ need to get dressed, first."

As he was standing there nude, he looked down at himself and quietly said, "Oh."

"Go get dressed while I call Coco to help me," she ordered, flipping the blankets on her side of the bed back and, in a little pain, swinging her legs off the side of the bed.

"Right," said Harry. He knew not to try and help at the moment; and to instead get dressed. Luna would not call the little female house elf until she was sure Harry was already dressed enough not to embarrass the little elf with his nakedness.

Quickly donning chino pants and a collared T-shirt he said, "Call her. I'm dressed enough not to embarrass her."

And she did.

As soon as Coco popped in, deliberately ignoring Harry, she asked, "It be time, Miss Luna?"

"Yes, Coco," said Luna. "I need to dress to go to Saint Mungo's."

"Yes, Miss," nodded Coco. She snapped her little fingers and a easy-to-get-out-of set of witches robes, unfolded and laid out, magically appeared next to Luna on the bed.

Harry hadn't even finished getting dressed when Luna declared, "That was fast. My waters just broke."

"Shhhit!" Harry muttered, hurriedly pulling on a pair of dragon-skin boots.

Seeing how dressed Harry was, Coco vanished the mess under Luna with one snap of her fingers and had Luna dressed with another snap of her fingers. A third snap of her fingers had a chair for Luna to sit on, which Luna gratefully accepted.

"You go now!" declared the little elf.

"Right you are!" declared Harry, now properly dressed.

He grabbed the go bag, walked over to his wife and looped a long piece of baby-blue string around the pair of them.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"Definitely," she sighed.

"Baby time!" Harry immediately declared, activating the prenatal emergency portkey.

The portkey was a specially made, pregnancy friendly, portkey created for the purpose of portkeying women in labour direct to the birthing ward at Saint Mungo's. Which is where they were deposited after coming out of the portkey travel. He'd even added the charm to key it to the anti-portkey ward on Potter Manor, envisioning they'd be at home when it was time for Luna to be rushed to the hospital.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

As soon as Harry and Luna arrived, a small bell immediately went off.

Before Harry even had the chance to move Luna to a wheelchair waiting for expectant mothers, two orderlies and a medi-witch rushed into the room. The orderlies immediately moved to help Luna into the wheelchair, with Harry almost being 'hip and shouldered' out of the way as they moved.

As they worked, the medi-witch asked Harry. "Lady Luna Selene Peverell-Potter, yes?"

"Errr... yes," replied Harry.

"Due... in three days?"

"Err... yes," Harry repeated, having to rapidly remember what day it was and realising it had to be sometime after midnight for her asking if it was three days instead of four.

Thankfully, the next question was directed to Luna. "Contractions?"

Luna promptly replied, "About seven minutes apart and my water broke about three minutes ago."

"Then your baby should be in your arms before the sun comes up," declared the medi-witch.

By then, Luna was already being wheeled out of the room with the nurse by her side. Harry had to hurry to catch up.

As he hurried out of the room he cast a quick Time Charm, Tempus. It was just after 2.00am.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Sirius was woken out of his sleep by Prankster. "Master Padfoot must be gettings up!" the elf declared.

"Hunh! Wazzat?" asked Sirius.

"Master Padfoot must be gettings up!" the elf repeated. "Master Hardwin be on the floo."

Confused, or confuzzled due to being woken, Sirius asked, "Harry's on the―" And froze.

Suddenly he leapt out of bed, grabbed a night robe and was hastily pulling it on as he hurried downstairs to the floo.

As he ran in, he saw his godson's face in the floo, dancing in the green flames.

"The baby?" asked Sirius. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's perfect, Sirius," replied a still grinning but clearly tired Harry. "Or perhaps I should call you great godfather... or godgrandfather... or something along those lines."

"The baby's here?" Sirius demanded, kneeing before the fireplace to get closer to his godson.

"Born just an hour or so ago," giggled Harry. "Six pounds, seven ounces. A healthy, squalling baby boy; already with a head of black hair, but with blue eyes."

"Almost all babies have blue eyes when they're born, pup," said a very happy 'godgrandfather'. "They change within the first few weeks, if I remember rightly."

"Luna said they're going to be silvery blue, just like hers, but with flecks of green in them," said Harry. "When I saw the baby's eyes for the first time I thought she must've been lying to me. If they're going to change colour I'll have to apologise to her, even though I didn't actually accuse her of lying."

"Always a good idea, Harry," said Sirius. "So. When can we visit?"

"How about... after lunch?" replied Harry. "Luna woke me up with her contractions at about 2.00am this morning and I've not been asleep again, yet. She's sleeping at the moment, though. She was exhausted. She only dropped off to sleep about five minutes before I came to floo-call you.

"Can you also let the others know? You were the first I contacted, but I've also got to floo-call her father to let him know he's now a grandfather.

"After that I intend to go back to the manor to sleep until about noon. That's why I suggest waiting until after lunch."

Sirius nodded and said, "Sounds like a plan. I'll let the others know, as you suggest, while you floo Xeno. Then, Pup, definitely get some of that sleep. We'll see you after lunch at Saint Mungo's."

"Thanks, Sirius," said Harry, smothering a yawn. "See you then."

Harry pulled his head from the flames and the floo connection winked out. Then he immediately floo-called Xeno and let him know.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

After an early lunch at the manor and after being woken by Dobby so he could enjoy it before returning to the hospital, Harry was back at Saint Mungo's before any well-wishers arrived.

When he walked into the private room Luna was accorded due to her being a Lady of a Noble and Most Ancient House - and for which Harry had also paid a pretty galleon for - he was just in time to see his wife coax their son to start suckling upon her breast. On the wheeled bed-tray he saw the remains of an early lunch; or late breakfast.

The one thing that Harry truly noticed about his wife's breasts was during the second trimester when they started to grow. Luna went from a mid B-cup to a solid C-Cup in a few short weeks. The downside was that her pale areola, that he truly appreciated, considerably darkened. Worst still, Luna began to ban him from playing with them. According to her, they now belonged to the baby and he wouldn't regain access to them until well after the baby was weaned off them.

He watched as the baby latched on and immediately began to suckle. And Luna gave a small jump in surprise "Oh!" she softly exclaimed. "So, _that_ 's what that feels like."

Harry grinned at her. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sore, still," she replied. "But, it'll pass soon enough. The potions are a great help."

Harry nodded and move to sit on the chair beside her bed, put there for his use by the hospital staff.

He then watched as his son... his _son_... eagerly took in nourishment.

He hadn't even realised he'd been so intently watching until Luna asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"Hunh?" he asked, snapping his gaze up to stare into his wife's eyes. "Oh! Ahh... how I'm now a daddy and you're now a mummy... how beautiful he looks... how such a great job you did growing him inside you... _lots_ of things."

"Earlier," she said. "While I was in the process of giving birth to this little one. What I said..."

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged. "The midwife told me it wasn't all that unusual for a mother in that situation to threaten to cut the baby's father's penis off, even with a rusty knife. She said she's heard a lot worse."

"Still," Luna blushed.

"Don't worry about it," he assured her. "Besides, we know there's going to be at least another child, right? That can't happen if you cut little Harry off first."

She smiled back and said, "Still, I'm sorry for saying it."

"Apology accepted," he immediately replied.

"How's your hand?" she asked.

"The healer fixed the broken finger and the bruises," he replied, holding his left hand up and wiggling his fingers to show her. "You've got quite the strong grip, you know that?"

"That was the pain," she smirked. "However, for the next one I _will_ be taking the pain potion they recommended I take first. I don't want to go through that again without it."

"Completely your choice," he said. "You know that."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Luna had only just finished feeding the baby, from both breasts, and covered up again when Sirius came in. At the time, Harry only had the baby in his own arms for about five minutes that felt like ten seconds.

"Hi Sirius," he quietly said.

His godfather was grinning back. "I remember seeing your father holding you just the same way twenty years ago, Pup. Though it feels less than half of that."

That was when Xeno walked in. He took one look at the tableau before he moved to the other-side of the bed from Harry. As he walked forward he said to Luna, "Hello, my little sugarplum."

"Hi, Daddy," she happily returned.

Then he reached her, bent over the bed and kissed her on the forehead. "How are you holding up? The Nargles giving you any grief?"

"The Wrackspurts did for a while, but they've now long since disappeared again," she replied. Then she gestured to where James was in Harry's arms and said, "Your grandson chased them away."

Xeno beamed in pleasure at the baby and quietly said, "Well done, grandson." Then he looked back at Luna and said, "Your mother said almost the same thing about you the day _you_ were born."

Sirius and Harry just exchanged light smirks. They both knew it was an act put on by both father and daughter. It was their 'thing'.

For about the next two hours Harry found himself only getting to hold the baby for about ten minutes, total. Xeno took him first, then Sirius got to hold him for a while.

About an hour after Sirius arrived, the Tonkses and Remus turned up. And the baby got moved around between them.

After that, everyone bar Harry was shoo'ed out by the hospital staff, a Mungo's house elf changed the baby's already full diaper, it was gently placed back into it's hospital cocoon-like crib with it's soothing magics and Luna needed to take another nap.

Harry was all set to just sit in 'his' chair and watch over both his wife and the baby, but the medi-witch then threw him out, ordering him to go home and not return until after 7.00pm.

When he glared at her and was about to 'wield his Lordly might', she cut him off and said, "That won't work, so don't even try. I've dealt with the likes of Abraxas Malfoy and Arcturus Black. You don't scare me, no matter _how_ much you might want people to be afraid of you."

When he then slumped a little and turned whipped-puppy eyes on her it still didn't work. "Nope," she smirked. "Come back at 7.00pm; not a second earlier."

With a sigh, he then bent over his sleeping wife's form, lightly kissed her on the lips and silently made his way out the room.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Luna and the baby were both out of the hospital the next evening. And both were only allowed out then because Coco, newly refresher-trained in handling wizarding infants, would be focusing on nurse-maiding them.

As soon as she was back in the manor, Luna was 'ordered' by Coco straight to bed with the baby's newly built and charmed cradle/crib already set up in the room allocated as a nursery right next to the master bedroom suite.

Harry was only woken once during the night by the baby's crying and, even before he had his eyes properly opened, Luna was sitting up in bed, bolstered by large pillows. Coco immediately brought James in and Luna was breast feeding him in moments.

"Everything alright?" he quietly asked.

"Everything's fine," she replied. "This little one was just hungry, is all."

"Uh-hmm," he murmured. "Lucky little bastard gets to play with your breasts."

"He's not playing, Love," she lightly scolded him. "He's _feeding_."

"Po- _tah_ -to, po- _tay_ -to; to- _mah_ -to, to- _may_ -to," he murmured.

She just lightly snickered back.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The now Potter-three quickly settled into a routine, even if it was one that left Harry feeling a little frazzled.

He found himself constantly woken at all hours of the night, but he knew it was even worse for Luna. He wanted to bemoan his 'fate', but couldn't; as Luna had it worse. Having to actually feed the baby, she was still almost serene in her happiness at being a mother.

For the first couple of weeks after they got home, Potter Manor often had visitors. Even little professor Flitwick dropped over on a weekend to visit with one of his favourite students.

Harry snorted in amusement and said, "Liar! You're just like all the rest. You came to hold the baby. You can't fool me."

"I said what I said, Lord Peverell-Potter," the diminutive professor overly-innocently replied. "And you cannot prove otherwise. Now, where's my future Ravenclaw student?"

"Slytherin!" Harry immediately countered. "He already has both Luna and I wrapped around his little finger."

Flitwick countered with, "The true and smart Slytherins all ensure they get sorted into Ravenclaw, Lord Peverell-Potter."

Harry laughed and said, "Luna's in the office... which she's now taken over, by the way. I believe you'll find them both in there.

"Come on," he said, gesturing. "I'll show you the way."

Flitwick happily followed behind.

In the office, Luna was sitting at the desk putting some of the final touches to her book about Dumbledore. The baby was in the cradle alongside the desk and gently rocking back and forth, with the rune-based rocking charm built into the cradle currently active.

As soon as Harry walked in he said, "We have a guest, Love." Then stepped aside to let the professor in.

As soon as she saw who it was, Luna's expression lit up with joy. "Filius!" she quietly exclaimed. And was quick to stand and hurry around the other side of the desk from the cradle.

After she gave the little man a quick hug, she gestured to the baby and said, "Come; look what Harry and I did!"

The little professor chuckled as he eagerly walked forward.

Harry just rolled his eyes and made his way out, back to the breakfast room and the House financials he had spread out on the table there.

He understood the relationship Luna had with Flitwick and gave them 'privacy' to sit and chat while fussing over the baby. With her father not available while she was at school, after Flitwick had dealt with her bullies he had become somewhat of a pseudo-father for her. If anything, he was an even better father for her than her true father.

The little Professor actually stayed for almost three hours, which really surprised Harry. Then he realised it was the late June and school was out for the summer. The Professor had probably rushed through marking all the end of year exams for first to fourth and sixth year - as the WEA marked the OWLs and NEWTs - and came over as soon as he had enough time available.

Harry realised he should have already realised that, as he was working on his investment portfolio to see what he could do to reduce the amount of muggle tax he would have to pay on his muggle investment dividends. Of course, the easiest way to pay as little as possible was to re-invest as much of the profit as possible before the end of the financial year; which he was currently organising because that was only in a couple of weeks.

The Professor visiting them gave Harry an idea. Another way to reduce the amount of tax you paid was to donate a significant portion of it to charity.

He wouldn't have time this year before the thirtieth of the month, but it was something he could organise for the next. He'd set up a charity to fund muggle-borns attending Hogwarts. This year, though, he'd be soon paying a visit to McGonagall to ask what things he could donate to the school that would 'make a real difference'. He thought the school brooms probably hadn't been replaced yet; so that would be one of things he'd do; pay for them to be replaced.

'Hmmm...' he thought. 'Pay a substantial percentage of each muggle-born's requirements to attend, I wonder? I can't pay for the school fee, though. The Board would quickly find out about it and immediately put their fees for muggle-borns up while reducing the fees for the pure-bloods... the bastards.'

It would be something to figure out and lay out over the next six months or so. He wanted it in place before school commenced the next year in September.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Luna finally finished her book and had it approved by the publishers in the October. And they promised to have it available on the shelves in bookstores across the country at the beginning of December. That way, it would be available for purchase as a Yule/Christmas present.

The publisher also promised to see if there was a viable market for it on the mainland. It turned out there was.

However, the publisher under-estimated how many they'd need to print. The book hit the shelves and, within a week, the bookshops were screaming for more from the distributors, who were then screaming for more from the publishers.

Luna's book, ' _Albus Dumbledore, the Great Dissembler_ ', with the secondary title of ' _The Dark Lord Who Hid in the Light_ ' turned into an instant nationwide bestseller; and, only a week later, turned out to be a best seller on the mainland too.

A month later, a far shorter time than should have been anticipated, an owl flew in and landed on the breakfast table before Luna. After a couple of quick detection charms on both the owl and the obvious letter it was carrying tied to its leg, she released the owl of its load, swapping it for a small section of cured ham.

Happy with its 'payment', the owl flew out again while Luna magically unfolded the letter.

Only a few seconds later her face broke out into a beaming smile.

"Clearly good news," said Harry. "From the publisher, right?"

"Yes," she replied. "It's to let me know my first residual payment has already been transferred into my vault at Gringotts."

"That was fast!" he said. "You told me they only paid that when the first print run was eighty percent sold. I take it that's what's happened?"

"And fifty percent of the second print run, too," she smiled.

"Wow!" he quietly said.

"According to the publisher at Obscurus Books, they anticipate having to do a couple more print runs after this in quick succession," she explained. "And, so far, the book has only been distributed to here and Europe. It's not properly gone global yet. That's what they're doing next, but getting one of the bigger publishing houses in America to print the runs for over there and Canada. They have a bigger operation and can print and ready to distribute the books faster."

"Congratulations, Love," he beamed at her.

She pinked just a little in pleased embarrassment.

She was just finishing her breakfast when Coco brought James down and said, "Feeding time, Miss Luna."

Now a few months into being parents, neither Harry or Luna were surprised. And Luna merely gave a nod back before she sat back and released the catches on the breast of her 'motherhood' robes. The catches allowed a 'panel', each side, of the front of her robes to open to allow easy access to her breasts. Her bra had similar panels in the cups.

Only fifteen seconds later and James was once more latched on, enjoying his own breakfast.

Once the baby was properly secured to her nipple and was feeding, she looked back to her husband and said, "How go your plans for the Lily Potter and Selene Lovegood Memorial Bursary Funds?"

The Lily Potter Memorial Bursary Fund was the 'charity' Harry was creating to fund muggle-borns attending Hogwarts, while the Selene Lovegood Memorial Bursary Fund was the charity to aid in funding impoverished half- and pure-bloods to attend.

He created the second as a way to stop the pure-bloods, once they found out about it, getting all up in their wands about the 'free ride' the muggle-borns would get from the first. If they bitched or tried to block or hinder the first, he would use the threat of stopping the second to fight back.

However, the only ones to know of both funds so far were Harry, Luna, Rockgnasher of Gringotts, Sirius, Narcissa Black, Ted Tonks and a very excited Filius Flitwick; the man who _should_ be the current Deputy Headmaster, but was blocked by the school board in favour of pure-blood Septima Vector.

Harry had also found out he had two seats on the board when the President of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Board, the school board, demanded he start to attend the monthly meetings. Harry knew it was because he wanted the name of 'Harry Potter' to be recognised as an active member of the board. It was a 'demand' that he'd come to bitterly regret.

In return Harry demanded right back a copy of the school charter, the constitution of the board and other errata that were the important documents, took them to Ted Tonks - a law-wizard - on the recommendation of Narcissa and the two went over them.

At the next meeting Harry attended with Ted as his special guest - allowable under the constitution - bided his time until after being 'inducted' onto the board, complete with photographs being taken for the _Daily Prophet_ of him shaking hands with the Board President - and then immediately nominated Ted Tonks as his personal proxy, much to the shock of the other members. When they then immediately got all up in their wands about it he calmly pointed to the relevant sections of the constitution where it was allowable and let Ted deal with them.

His only instruction to Ted was he wanted full equality for all students and that Ted would report back to him, together with a copy of the minutes of the meeting once they were ratified, what was discussed and what was decided. Ted also knew that he was to be immediately informed if the board tried to raise tuition or other costs that exempted or overly-benefitted pure-bloods.

To stop the board from then trying to smear Harry's name in the press, realising just how big a mistake they made in forcing him to activate his seats among them, Harry struck first and immediately donated to the school thirty brand new Cleansweep Trainer brooms for the 'Introduction to Flying' classes, organised and paid for the repair and ward maintenance of the school's greenhouses, organised and paid for replacement boats for the first years crossing the lake (complete with, on each, protection wards to repel rain, prevent students falling overboard and others) and organised and paid for replacement wagons (complete with similar protections) that took the students from Hogsmeade to the school and vice versa.

They were all something he had begun to organise back the previous June, but had not had opportunity to do anything about until then - even if he originally started it to try and reduce his taxes.

Straight after the presentations to Headmistress McGonagall and her staff, Harry once more and near-instantly became the darling of wizarding Britain when he made it clear he paid for such to 'further protect the heirs of our great nation'.

The board tried to pass a resolution that all donations to the school had to be via the board and in gold. Harry retaliated by _verbally_ and in person threatening the entire board that he would make _internationally_ public how much the board members were being paid in 'honorariums' from the school funds just to sit on the board. And that 'it seems like' the board were trying to 'skim even more' gold from the funds to 'line their own pockets'. As he was currently riding the crest of the amount of gratitude and love the British wizarding community were heaping his way, the board - quite in fear of even their lives from an angry body of students' parents - very quickly changed their tune. And Ted then used the opportunity to push through a resolution that capped those honorariums.

His evidence included just how much similar school boards were paid at schools across the world. That the Hogwarts school board were already paid almost double even the second closest and that Harry was happy to make those figures public if they didn't comply, didn't hurt his argument.

"They're going good," he replied to his wife's question. "Professor Flitwick will be making sure I receive a list of what students are going to be attending next year who'll need assistance and the same from each year there onwards, together with the blood status of each as it becomes known.

"He's certain that, once we break the news of the funds to Headmistress McGonagall and Deputy Headmistress Vector, they will be one hundred percent behind us and help with figuring out who are the impoverished and who are not. We'll then figure out how to handle the determinations of who gets how much financial support after that."

As little James noisily suckled, Luna smiled back and said, "I'm glad. You realise, don't you, that Hogwarts is going to receive a jump in the number of students each year?"

"Of course," he nodded. "I just don't know by how much yet."

"Not enough to break the funds, as that has you worried," she said.

He grinned back and said, "You know me too well."

Then he dropped the grin and asked, "Still no sign, through your ability, of the board successfully stopping it?"

"There will be further attempts," she replied. "However, with how you're acting to cut them off at the knees before they even get a chance to enact their plans, for now none of them will work. Both Funds are safe for the foreseeable future."

He gave a nod back and chuckled.

She asked, "Have your 'response' notes ready for when they try the same in the Wizengamot?"

"Yes," he replied. "I've already had both Ted and Narcissa looking them over and they've already made the changes they... demand... I make to them."

"Good," she firmly stated. "You're going to need them for this coming session."

Surprised, he quietly said, "I see."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


	24. Life Was Good

_**Disclaimer:** The Harry Potter universe belongs to the proverbial Duchess of Magic, JK Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros and some other high falutin' companies. No matter how much I whine about not owning anything related to the HP universe, other than a few fanfic plots, I do not profess to own - and would never dream of making any money off - JKR's wonderful world... Damn it!_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Here it is, folks. This is it for another completed installment. As promised, completed well before Christmas. I'd hoped to get DM finished by now, but the new ending kind of grew on me. It _is _going well again, though; have no fear it won't be completed. However, I've used the writer's trick of 'just get ink onto paper, don't worry about what's written' to get my mojo back for that story. I won't delete what I've written as it's kind of... interesting. I've only edited out (most of) the errors.  
_

* * *

 **Chapter Twenty Four - Life Was Good**

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The Wizengamot did have a Member try to put forth a resolution for a new statute regarding donations for the school. Surprisingly, though, Harry didn't end up being the lead opposition to it; it was Neville Longbottom with strong support from a recently married Susan Bones-Carmichael.

Susan now sat the Seat for Bones while her aunt still sat as Minister.

Harry still spoke against the original motion, but then spoke in support of the amendment that arose; 'to reduce the risk of possible embezzlement of the donated funds'.

The amended motion passed for the new Statute, however the new Statute would include limits to the board and how much they could interfere with what was given as donations.

It had one of the Members, a witch and also a member of the board, blatantly sulk about it in their Seat. That's because the push for the Statute clearly backfired on them.

Harry spent a lot of the time during the session and after the motion was passed to openly grin at the fool. Sirius watched it all and was chuckling at Harry as he silently mocked the woman.

After the meeting he then provided a doorstop interview for the press, where he spoke about how he believed the board attempted to overstep the bounds of their authority and the Wizengamot recognised it for what it was. Then commended both Neville and Susan for recognising the attempt and circumventing it before it became a problem.

He received plenty of positive press for those remarks and it didn't hurt that both Neville and Susan received the same.

Harry felt that the best result of it was that the board were put back into their subservient place by the Wizengamot, which meant the board would know they held a weak position to try and interfere with the Funds once their existence became public knowledge.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

During the time leading up to the next school year, Flitwick quietly informed Harry of which students had been determined to come from impoverished backgrounds; or at least came from families that he believed would turn down the offer to attend the school due to financial considerations.

There were five magical-raised, with three of those from half-blood families; and six muggle-borns. Harry immediately had Rockgnasher investigate all eleven families from a fiscal perspective.

It turned out Flitwick was right on the galleon about all eleven families.

Harry asked for their contact details and, between him and Flitwick, visited those muggle-born families to offer assistance. Based on the information they'd received from the goblins, some would only be offered a portion of the costs paid on their behalf while two families would be fully funded.

Harry refused to visit the magical-raised, because he knew they'd immediately recognise him and, likely, blab. Instead, he had Flitwick visit them and inform them 'a wealthy donor who did not want their identity known as of yet' was offering to fund their child/ren to attend Hogwarts with him, the donor, paying a significant portion of the cost.

Of course, almost all of them wanted further information in case this supposedly wealthy donor was going to later attempt to use the fact s/he paid so much for the child's tuition to be held over them. Only one family, too grateful for the help, didn't ask.

Anticipating this, a form contract was written up ahead of the offer. The contract stated the donor wanted nothing more from the recipient than for the child to do their best in their studies, do their best to behave themselves while a student and for the recipient family to not speak ill about the donor. It was quite basic and easy to understand. Ted wrote it up knowing it would need to be.

"Why are they doing this?" was the basic general question asked. And the general answer back was, "Because they can and because the donor wants magical children properly educated. An educated populace means an economically growing populace; which benefits everyone."

Accompanied by Flitwick, Harry visited all the muggle-born families and made the offer personally. However, he still did not identify himself as the donor; only as someone who held a seat on the school board and as 'someone involved in the fund that made it possible'.

In later years he always saw those visits as one of the highlights of his year. Even when, on more than a few occasions over the years the living situation of the muggle-born was of sufficient detriment to the child that he immediately called in the DMLE to investigate, he still found joy in the visits. His joy of those latter mentioned visits was in seeing the removal of a magical from an abusive environment and the later charging, through muggle courts, of the parents or guardians involved.

Unplanned and, until it was already established and working, unpromoted by Harry was the creation of a contact network of muggle-born families. It wasn't until the Ministry - unknown to Amelia Bones - got wind of it and tried to shut it down that Harry jumped in and blocked them from doing so. Again, he was aided by both Susan and Neville. However, they brought in with them a number of other Members of the Wizengamot who felt it was a good idea. It didn't help the Ministry's argument that their own Minister was ropeable with them for the attempt. Both those had the Ministry back off and leave them alone, other than to warn them about the consequences they would face if they even unintentionally breached the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.

It did help, though, that an error as to the living conditions of one muggle-born was made and it was discovered one of the fathers of a muggle-born was a barrister of high standing in the muggle world, who jumped into learning about wizarding law with a great deal of relish. He and Ted Tonks became firm friends and eventually went into partnership, forming a law firm that easily and comfortably straddled the divide between the two worlds.

It utterly shocked the pure-bloods when it was discovered the 'muggle lawyer' was able to undertake and complete a Mastery in Wizarding Law, which he did. No magic was required to pass an apprenticeship in magical law. Both the muggle, Winston Edlington-Whyte, and Ted publicly laughed at those who were shocked.

"B-but... he's a _muggle_!" exclaimed one.

"That's irrelevant," smirked Ted. "He met the requirements and comfortably completed the apprenticeship."

"But he can't so magic!" the one further exclaimed.

"Again irrelevant," replied Ted. "There is no requirement, _per law_ , that a law-wizard can perform magic."

"But he has to be able to perform magic to undertake an apprenticeship!" the one tried again.

"There is no legal requirement for that," said Ted. "The law states that a _wizard_ or _witch_ must be able to perform magic to undertake an apprenticeship. There is no requirement for a muggle to do the same.

"Frankly that requirement is a nonsense because, if you cannot perform magic, you cannot be lawfully recognised as a wizard or witch; you're either a squib or a muggle."

When someone tried to bring in the requirement you had to be a wizard or witch to do anything related to the magical world, Harry laughed and said, "Well! For a start, the goblins are going to be pissed. If you pass this law then they can no longer operate your bank. Further, they cannot even have Gringotts _exist_. That breaches a number of treaties, right there.

"Next, I hope all you pampered pure-bloods are willing to get by without your house elves, because this law will make it illegal for them to perform their _own_ brand of magic.

"And don't let me get started on the other races; including the veela, merfolk, centaurs, etcetera.

"You folks _really_ need to think about what it is you're trying to achieve before you completely screw yourselves over; and worse, _me_.

"You might not like the fact a muggle was able to complete a mastery in magical law, but that's just tough. It's clearly possible, it's been done, get _over_ it.

"Besides, it's not the _only_ mastery a muggle can undertake and successfully complete."

"Oh?" asked one. Then snarkily demanded, "What else?"

"A Mastery in Muggle Studies, for one," smirked Harry. "History of Magic is another. So's, I think, Arithmancy and Astronomy. If there is no actual _legal_ requirement to charge a runic array with your own magic, Ancient Runes is yet another; seeing as they can be charged with ambient magic. And runes need to be carved by hand as you can't use magic to carve them in most instances. Do I need to go on?"

Then he laughed at all the dawning of horrified looks he was getting.

"This is the only reason I still come to these sessions, you know that?" he asked in general. "It's just so I can witness just how bloody _stupid_ many of you can be and act. Session after session you people seem to make decisions, or show you believe a lie to be truth, so often that I'm now well past the position of sheer disbelief at what I find, to where I'm now into a highly amused state at your collective stupidity."

The looks he got back just made him laugh even harder.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The Wizengamot kept trying, over the years, to either directly or unintentionally interfere in Harry's life.

Directly, they once tried to block or shut down the two Funds. That led to a mass riot in the Ministry atrium from affected magical families, who knew their child or children was/were only able to attend Hogwarts because of the 'Lovegood Fund'. And that then led to the Wizengamot having to sit in emergency session to scrap even the _proposal_ of the law. Quite a few who had politicked for the implementation of the law suffered significant political harm to themselves due to that.

Instead of taking his Seat for the session, Harry had stood in the middle of the floor and, with his arms crossed, simply smirked at them all before he said, "Come on, people!... _Think!_... Look to the _consequences_ of your actions!... Anticipate what will happen each time you _think_ you're doing something good, which is actually something stupid!... Figure it out from the evidence before you!

"If the _numbskulls_ who proposed this ridiculous law first looked at what consequences would arise, then I believe they'd have figured out just how stupid an idea it actually was; and not tabled it!

"The funds I created with my own gold benefit _everyone_. Wizards and witches from impoverished families are now properly educated and, once they graduate, are in an excellent position to secure employment. Very soon thereafter they start spending their earnings in your shops... with your businesses... and paying taxes, reducing your own. Almost all of which earn _you_ more gold filling your own vaults.

"A happy, healthy, educated populace _benefits_ you. Attempting to force me to shut down the Funds actually _costs you gold_! It costs you gold in the gold you will _not_ then receive from those families once their benefiting-from-it child or children graduate.

"It wouldn't work, by the way. You might be able to remove the charity status from the Funds, but I will _still_ do it because what I'm doing is not unethical or immoral and it benefits the magical world. I'll just go to the International magical community, tell _them_ what you've done through the overseas newsparchments and offer the same service to somewhere like Beauxbatons. I cannot see the French magical government being that stupid not to welcome it.

"They will see what some of you obviously cannot. They'll see that, attempting to block what I'm doing, is an excellent example of how to cut your own financial throat."

He just gave them another snort of amusement and said, "I'll leave you lot to your attempts at financial suicide. You've... _humoured_... me enough for one day."

Then he spun on his heel and walked out of the Chamber, ignoring everyone.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

That was the last time for the next six or so months before the next attempt was made. This time they tried to raise the cost of attending Hogwarts for muggle-borns to ridiculous levels - as if they weren't already ridiculous.

Harry retaliated by standing in the Wizengamot and reading what sounded like an article out of the _Daily Prophet_ without mention of the journalist's name. It was utterly scathing of those who tried to force this law through. It called them thieves, 'moral paupers' and other derogatory terms.

He was three quarters of the way through the 'article' when one of the darker pure-blood Members snarled out, "What is this? I don't recognise that article from anywhere!"

Harry calmly looked up and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. This will be an article that will be printed in... _tomorrow's_... _Daily Prophet_ , as an advertisement, if you people pass this insulting piece of crap you purport to be proposed legislation. I've already paid for the advertising space and myself and the editor have already signed unbreakable contracts that that advertising space will be made available to me to do with whatever I wish. It'll be on the front page, by the way. And what I wish is for this article I'm now reading to you to be published, in full and without alteration, in that space."

After a long moment of shock, the Member snarled, "I could challenge you to a duel, for that!"

"Yes, you could," Harry immediately agreed. "I will of course demand it be to the death, demand it to be immediate and then kill you. Make sure you have your Will properly filed before you do, though. You won't have a chance to do so between the time you challenge me and the time I kill you."

That Harry stated such with even a hint of amusement, so obviously assured in his victory was he, the Member immediately shut up and turned his attention away; though still quite angry.

"It's like this, people," said Harry to the Members. "This _disgusting_ piece of crap offered as legislation is nought but a way to, _yet again_ , stop me providing the funding for the Lily Potter Memorial Scholarship Fund. It is the _third_ attempt in twelve months. This time, the so-called proponents of this... offence... are trying to drive out the muggle-borns being provided aid by making it so the Fund cannot continue to support them enough for them to attend.

"What they have also failed to take into consideration... as always... is the _consequences_ that will arise if they were successful.

"The Hogwarts budget is almost completely fixed. It needs a set amount of incoming funds via tuition to operate; and a very high percentage of those funds are irrespective of how many students attend. The only variations are the amount needed to pay for food and a few other minor considerations.

"If the Wizengamot _foolishly_ decide to support this nonsense, the Fund will pay for those muggle-borns... including the ones who otherwise need nothing or only a little financial assistance... to attend an overseas educational institution. The only reason it hasn't occurred already is that it is still... _barely_... more financially viable to educate them at Hogwarts.

"Raise the cost of Hogwarts fees for the muggle-born and -raised... Beauxbatons will be the cheaper option. As soon as that happens, Hogwarts will immediately lose the tuition those muggle-borns pay... or the Fund pays on their behalf.

"As I said, Hogwarts's operating costs, without the muggle-borns, will not significantly change. So, because the board will have _no choice_ but to do so, the fees paid by the magical-raised... especially pure-bloods... will _have to_ increase to make up for the shortfall.

"They cannot do otherwise as the school is required by its very _charter_... to make at least a modicum of a profit. And they're _barely_ making that now.

"My review of the fee structure of Hogwarts, together with using simple mathematics, has shown me that the fees for pure-bloods to attend Hogwarts will have to... at least... _double_ , possibly even _triple_ without muggle-borns attending."

That had a few exclamations of shock, especially from those same pure-bloods who were against muggle-borns attending Hogwarts.

Ignoring it, Harry continued, "I am confident that anyone else who does the same check of the figures will find the same result.

"It is this sort of wonky thinking coming from some Members... Members, who _still_ haven't learned how powerful the word 'consequence' is... that occasionally has me laughing _at_ you.

"Support this Bill, or anything like it, you're going to have parents of Hogwarts students... or soon-to-be Hogwarts students... hunting you down with malice in their hearts. And, this time, they're going to be _pure-bloods_."

" _Stop trying to fuck with the Funds!_ " he suddenly yelled before dropping his volume again. "I have had enough. This is yet again a direct attack upon me and mine. One more attempt in my lifetime and I'll be personally coming for you. You will have shown you are _clearly_ an enemy of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell and the Noble and Ancient House of Potter... and will be dealt with as such.

"No... more... warnings," he firmly declared. "The patience of a Lord of two powerful Noble and Ancient Houses is at an _end_. So I have _declared_!"

Then he dropped into his Seat in a funk and glared right back at anyone who tried to stare him down.

Sirius was trying hard not to snicker and instead glare about from his own seat, but his eyes belied his mirth.

Harry was surprised the Chief Warlock didn't try to call him to task and berate him for his language. He found out later it was because he agreed with Harry - and also didn't want Harry coming after him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Three days later Harry received an owl from Flitwick. The letter it carried faithfully reported, in Flitwick's words, the collective apoplexy of a 'delegation' from the school board who attended the school and demanded to see the school's financials. That apoplexy arose as soon as they saw that, if they did lose the attendance of the muggle-borns at the school let alone the half-bloods, the pure-bloods would have to pay nearly triple what they were already paying in tuition fees.

They first tried to blame it on McGonagall and Sinistra, but that immediately failed when she pointed out right back that the tuition fees were set _by the board_.

She then further showed them copies of three reports she had sent them where she'd already pointed that out to the board, together with the board's lacklustre responses back. Then buried the blade even further when she showed them in the school's copy of the original charter where it stated all students were to pay the same amount... unless hardship was proven.

Then she asked how that hardship was proven to cover every single pure-blood - and only them - who were students at the school. If it wasn't proven, then the families of each of those students had _defrauded_ the school.

The 'delegation' retreated with their proverbial tails between their legs.

On reading about that, Harry had laughed.

"The supposed delegation?" Luna asked. She was the one who provided the warning to Harry, who alerted Flitwick, that such a delegation would be making a surprise visit to McGonagall to try and blame-shift the whole thing onto her.

That gave McGonagall more than twenty-four hours notice to collect all the relevant and verifiable documentation to rub their faces in it. A job she took to with relish.

"Yup," he nodded, sliding the letter across to her. "Thanks to you, Headmistress McGonagall was more than ready to do battle with them when they turned up.

"I'll also have to let Ted know that this... delegation... also declared themselves as such. As the board had not met to form such a delegation, it means they overstepped their bounds. He'll enjoy giving them a serve about that at the next board meeting."

She smirked back. "You enjoy giving the fuddy-duddy pure-bloods a legal bloody nose, don't you." She didn't word it as a question.

He grinned and replied anyway. "Yyyyup!"

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It was getting on eighteen months after the birth of James and about a month after their return from a short visit to America to 'witness' Hermione's wedding when Luna walked into the office, which Harry had managed to recoup back off his wife after her book was finished, and sat on the chair before his desk smirking at him.

When he looked up from his parchments where he was going over the financials of both Funds, he asked, "What's got you amused, Love?"

First, she rose from her seat and placed a small vial before him. "You're going to need that," she declared as she sat again.

"Oh?" he carefully asked, already recognising the contents of the vial as a Calming Draught.

"It looks like it's time for me to write another book," she calmly replied. Then grinned at him.

Confused for about three seconds, Luna watched as her husband's eyes suddenly widened in shock as he stared back.

That his mouth also dropped open and he'd frozen in place had her snickering at his expression.

"You... you're..."

"Pregnant again," she snickered. "Yes."

Harry paused for only about two seconds before he quickly scooped up the vial, uncorked it dumped the entire contents into his mouth and swallowed. He didn't even make that wrinkled face of revulsion he usually did when he had to take a potion. He just continued to stare at Luna as his face morphed into a smile.

She then rose, walked around his desk and plonked herself into his lap. Then thoroughly snogged him.

"A boy?" he asked, when they came up for air.

"I believe so, yes," she replied. "And, yes, his name will be―"

"Henry Remus," Harry finished. "Due date?"

"Seven and a half months from now," she returned. "January."

Then he pulled a face and said, "I'm going to lose access to your girls again, aren't I?"

He'd only a few months earlier managed to get back playing rights with Luna's breasts when she'd finally weaned James off them. They'd both figured out early in their relationship that Harry was a 'breast man' and losing full access to her girls was, in Harry's opinion, a cruel hardship.

"In a few months, yes," she replied.

He sighed and said, "Well, from James you pretty much retained your cup size after weaning him. I hope you don't go and lose them after weaning Henry."

"We'll see," she said.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Henry was born a blonde, but with the emerald green eyes of his father. Unlike his boisterous older brother, though, he was a lot more placid. Harry and Luna named Neville his godfather and Harry was left wondering if it was the godfather from whom his second developed his nature and determination to do right all the time. James's godfather was Remus.

Another two and a half years after Henry the identical 'Devilette Twins', Lillian Rose and Selene Heather, were born in the August, only a few days shy of the Hogwarts cut-off which would have held them back from starting at Hogwarts by another year.

During the intervening years, Harry re-established a firm friendship with the Weasley twins, who had become quite wealthy and settled down due to their wives, Angelina and Alicia, finally bringing them to heel. The twins were named the godfathers of the two girls.

"Who is..." "...Whose godfather?" asked the twins, after they'd happily agreed.

Luna smirked and replied, "Does it matter?"

The twins grinned back and, in stereo, replied, "No." And both laughed.

Harry just flicked his hands in the air in an exaggerated shrug and said, "Figures."

Luna had been right again. He was so sure she wouldn't be, this time.

Thankfully, after the twins, Luna was quite alright about them not having any more children. Harry knew she loved being a new mummy and hadn't wanted to take that away from her. However, it was she who raised it with him and said, "Those two will be our last, Love."

"As you wish," he replied. "You know I was happy with whatever you chose, right?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"It's not as if we couldn't afford more," he added.

"I know," she replied.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Sirius also eventually found his wife when he'd practically given up hope and, during a visit at the Three Broomsticks to drown his sorrows in alcohol and wail about the injustice of it all when Luna was freshly pregnant with their first, bumped into Septima Vector.

After hearing him grizzle a bit about his non-existent love life, she smirked at him and said, "Well, you haven't dated _me_ yet."

No fool, after about five seconds of staring at her in shock, he quickly asked her out on a date. She said yes.

Six months later Sirius flooed to Potter Manor, confronted Luna and demanded, "It's Septima, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, Sirius," she calmly replied. "It's Septima."

With a firm nod of acknowledgement back he spun about, stalked back to the fireplace and flooed away. They were betrothed only a week later and married a year after that. They'd have been married earlier, according to Sirius, but she didn't want a 'whirlwind courtship' before marriage.

All that occurred covering the time between Luna being pregnant with James and when he was six months old.

Their first, a girl, was born six months before the Devilette Twins. Eighteen months later and they were 'baking' the second; which turned out to be a boy.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

James grew to his 'preteen' years a boisterous, intelligent risk-taker. When it came to Hogwarts, Harry just couldn't figure out which House he'd be sorted into, even right up to the day the boy boarded the Hogwarts Express for the first time. And Luna wouldn't tell him.

The train now left an hour earlier, because of the number of students requiring sorting each year. This year had over seventy First Years attending the school.

It was after the train pulled out of the station and they had a quiet moment he whirled on her with puppy dog eyes.

Luna rolled her own and quietly said, "Ravenclaw. But he's going to drive Professor Flitwick bonkers."

Harry grinned and said, "Then I guess, once we get home, I'd better write a letter of apology to the good professor."

As Harry pulled out the family portkey to take them back to Potter Manor, Luna giggled in amusement.

"Then I hope _I'm_ not in Ravenclaw," piped up a slightly scowling nine year old Henry.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When it became Henry's turn, he was sorted into Hufflepuff; which was no real surprise to anyone. And the Devilette Twins were sorted into Gryffindor only two years later.

It was a week after school started the first year for the girls when Sirius turned up at Potter Manor, practically giggling.

"What's got you amused?" asked Harry.

"Your girls," laughed Sirius. "They're already driving Sep' crazy."

"In detention, are they?" he asked.

"For the third time and they've only been there a week!" he declared. "And, this time, it's _for_ a week."

Harry winced and pulled a pained expression. "When can I expect the first parent Head of House discussion?"

"I'd give it two weeks, maximum," grinned Sirius.

It was two and a half. They'd managed to blow up Myrtle's personal toilet and claimed they were ordered to do it by their godfathers, Fred and George Weasley. That earned them a month's detention.

When he'd heard, Harry commenced lightly banging his forehead off his desk. A minor habit he'd picked up by the time the two were five and already getting into constant trouble.

He was just thankful that the pure-blood bigots had stopped a few years previously trying to get rid of the Funds using various, though barely legal, means.

The girls drove him to distraction and he firmly believed they did it deliberately, just to see if they could get a rise out of him.

The matching innocent, angelic expressions they'd turned on him when they were in trouble stopped working by the time they were six. And they were often in trouble.

Not helping was the Weasley twins. Every time the girls pulled off a decent prank, the twin men would secretly reward the twin girls with more pranking material.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

When the 'Stodgies' - 'Stodgy old traditionalists' - finally stopped trying to get rid of the Funds, Harry finally dedicated his time to picking up his Masteries. Luna already had hers in Warding and Ancient Runes, so he went for Transfiguration and Charms.

The girls constantly getting into trouble was bad enough to distract him. However, James had apparently developed a hate-on for Slytherins in his fourth year. It was somewhat illogical and Harry had to sit him down and force him to explain why.

Apparently, a girl he'd developed a crush on in Hufflepuff a year behind was dating a boy in Slytherin and was ignoring James's attempts at wooing her away.

So, with the help of Sirius and Remus, Harry spent time talking about his own father and his efforts to woo his own mother. And what his father finally realised in his sixth year.

"So, Jim," said Remus. "You're trying too hard and you're blaming a boy who is not entirely responsible for where young Miss Longbottom has directed her attention. You need to act more mature and, if you really love her, you'd be happy for her if _she's_ happy. Don't try so hard."

Harry thought it wouldn't, but the talk worked. James settled down again and stopped picking fights with the Slytherins. However, the Devilette Twins now saw it as their responsibility to keep up the Marauder tradition and pranked the hell out of them. When caught, they claimed they were doing it, "For Jimmy."

Again, Harry resorted to banging his forehead off the surface of his desk.

Luna walked in and saw hi doing it, smirked and asked, "The girls?"

Looking up he grizzle-growled, " _Your_ bloody daughters..."

"Yours too," she instantly returned.

" _That's_ debatable," he snapped.

As always, when they had this oft-repeated conversation, she simply laughed at him.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

The year the girls graduated from Hogwarts, much to the collective relief of the staff, Harry and Luna both accepted positions at the school. Luna became the Professor of Ancient Runes, as Bethsheba Babbling wanted to retire; and Harry became the new Professor of Transfigurations, relieving the one-year 'temporary place holder' Professor of that role.

Harry was immediately offered the Head of Gryffindor, but refused.

"Sorry, Headmistress," he replied. "I believe you have other, longer term, Professors on staff who should receive first refusal."

"I do," she smiled. "Professor Nigella Wentworth in Muggle Studies. However, she was quite willing to step aside and let you have the role if you wanted it."

He smiled back and said, "No, it's hers. She earned it in her own right. My name should not automatically open doors for me for something like this."

She nodded back and said, "I'm somewhat pleased to hear you say that."

"Somewhat?" he smirked.

With her own smirk back she admitted, "I wanted to watch the House drive you to as much distraction as you drove me back when _you_ and the Weasley twins were students; and your twins drove Bathsheba and Septima."

He laughed.

"And you, Professor Lovegood," she said, already informed Luna wanted to be addressed by her maiden name for her role as a professor. Harry would be Professor Peverell. "I'm sorry, but it doesn't look like you'll be able to ascend to the position of Head of House for Ravenclaw any time soon. Professor Flitwick has made no plans, as far as I'm aware, to retire any time soon."

"No, that's quite alright," smiled Luna. "I wasn't that interested in the position; for now, anyway. I hope Filius stays on for _many_ years."

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Harry and Luna were both happy to stay at the school for a number of years.

Their two oldest children, as magicals usually do, married soon after graduating. James 'Jim' Sirius Peverell-Potter married his later years school sweetheart, Alice Longbottom, two years after he graduated and almost a year after she did. And, as part of the ceremony, changed his name to James Sirius Peverell. Alice became Alice Augusta Peverell.

Surprising both elder Potters, Henry married a witch a year older than he; a Ravenclaw alumni named Melanie Whitlock. And, just like his elder brother, changed his name during the ceremony to Henry Remus Potter; allowing Melanie to become Melanie Potter - no middle name.

The Devilette Twins, Lillian and Selene, remained single and ran chaos through the available and similarly aged bachelors of magical Britain until, in their mid twenties, they'd decided they'd had enough fun with the silly men and, together, married a five years older muggle-born named Alexander Gibson; who'd also found himself the lone 'survivor' of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Nott while a child attending Hogwarts when he went in for a 'mandatory' blood test at Gringotts. He was one of the muggle-born in the early years sponsored by the Lily Potter Memorial Fund. Part of the funding required, once recipients turned fourteen, to go to Gringotts and have an inheritance test done. He turned out to be the unknown bastard son of Theodore Nott and a muggle rape victim.

As he was the last remaining member of the House, plus he also picked up the House of Gibbon through inheritance, he was eligible for a second wife. The girls 'forced' him into it, claiming they weren't going to be separated by having different husbands.

That was another head-thumping period for Harry.

However, the relationship worked. At least it did once Gibson accepted Harry wasn't going to kill him out of hand for 'despoiling' his daughters. Harry wasn't that hypocritical. And he also knew, from Luna, that Gibson wasn't the 'first' for either girl.

When he asked Luna about the details of their firsts, she calmly thought for a moment and replied, "They weren't raped, they weren't tricked, they weren't coerced. They knew what they were doing and how they wanted to lose their virginities. They did it, just as with everything else, together and with a willing partner, planned in advance. It was a very pleasurable experience for them both.

"You will not go charging off to find out who it was. Personally, I think they were being quite smart and responsible... surprisingly, considering their normal 'change on in' Gryffindorish natures. Leave it be."

Harry huffed and said, " _Fiiinne!_ "

She smirked back. "Don't worry, Love. You're still their favourite man and someone they will always look up to."

He just grumbled; annoyed, but without a target to vent his annoyance upon.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

It wasn't much longer before grandchildren started arriving and Harry and Luna positively _doted_ on them. Henry was the first of the children to become a father; becoming a father even before the Devilette Twins married.

However, very shortly after the second was born to James and Alice and while Harry and Luna were visiting the mother at Mungo's, they received a sudden summons to return to the school. Minerva McGonagall, while taking a stroll around the school, had suffered a massive heart attack while yelling at a couple of misbehaving Gryffindors and was unable to be revived.

Septima Vector was, of course, offered the position of Headmistress, but turned it down. She claimed she was about to retire as she and Sirius had planned to 'see the world' before they became too old to do so.

Eventually, after much urging from the staff and threats of mass quitting to the school board if they didn't sign off on it, the position was offered to Professor Flitwick; who accepted.

He offered Deputy Headmaster to Harry, who turned him down and suggested the Muggle studies Professor, Nigella Wentworth. Wentworth accepted. However, she refused to take the role unless she dropped Head of Gryffindor in the process.

Luna then became the Head of Ravenclaw and Harry became the Head of Gryffindor, practically at the same time.

And that's where they remained until they both 'retired'.

When the Devilettes fell pregnant they fell pregnant together. No matter the chance of the happenstance, no one doubted their babies would be born no more than days apart.

When Harry found out about it he took the shocked husband aside and, while offering him a drink, laughed himself silly at him. The young man couldn't figure out why and it was left up to Luna to explain it to him.

"Think of your wives," she said. "Now, think of how their babies are going to be twins in all but being born of the same womb. That's why Harry's laughing at you."

Alex's subsequent look of pain just made Harry laugh all the harder.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Surprising many but a few who were already in the know, after the girls' children were born - an hour apart - a few months later Harry and Luna disappeared for quite a few years. They'd gone to Black Island to unwind 'for a few months'. Originally they only planned to stay for about a year. However, they stayed for much, _much_ longer.

It was their grandchildren approaching adulthood that brought them back. They knew weddings would also be occurring soon afterwards and they wanted to make sure they were in Britain to attend them.

As they'd returned, Sirius and Septima almost immediately paid them a visit.

The first thing Sirius did, as he was the proxy while Harry and Luna were away, was to order Harry to take back his Wizengamot duties or pass them off to his oldest. Harry thought about it, thought about what his oldest was up to and decided he couldn't do that to James; and decided, instead, to return to his duties on the Wizengamot.

However, he then started training both his sons in the duties required as a Head of House. Luna also had him do it with the twins, who she'd planned on having take control of the House of Lovegood. Harry'd already decided he'd be splitting the two Seats of Potter and Peverell, giving the Peverell Seat to James and the Potter Seat to Henry. And had also been working hard with Rockgnasher to lay the groundwork to make an equitable fiscal split of the two Houses.

Both young men were happy with that arrangement and both promised not to make an issue of it when their father passed or otherwise decided to hand over the Lordships.

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ

Ten years later, Harry had finally decided he'd had a gutful of the crap he had to put up with on the Wizengamot and with the school board, and passed over the Lordships and stewardship of the Funds to his sons. He did both on the same day, only moments apart.

Luna passed on the Headship of House Lovegood to young Alex, managed by the twins, at the same time.

He and Luna then hung about in magical Britain for about six months to be on hand for both sons and the son-in-law in case they needed to come to him for advice or explanations. Both sons approached less than half a dozen times each, but Alexander approached a few more than that.

Once he was sure they had a handle on everything, he and Luna settled down to a life of 'elderly' luxury in Potter Manor.

Both believed they'd more than done their fair share for both their Houses and the wizarding world and they could rest.

Life was good, thank you very much.

 _Finite Incantatem!_

_‗_  
―==(oIo)==―  
ˇ


End file.
